The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has welcomed the results of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)'s Northern Australia Insurance Inquiry and its call for affordable insurance.
The final report of the ACCC's three-year Northern Australia Insurance Inquiry found that home, contents, and strata insurance premiums in the region have increased faster than other areas over the past decade. As a result, the commission has made 38 recommendations to address the issue in the short, medium, and long terms.
ICA chief executive officer Andrew Hall said addressing affordability concerns, reducing risk, and building better align with the council's goal of creating a resilient Australia.
“Insurance in the north and other areas exposed to high levels of risk can be costly. We are encouraged by the findings within the report and look forward to working with government and industry to address affordability and availability issues of insurance in northern Australia,” Hall said.
“The insurance industry has long endorsed the need to update outdated tax duties, reduce its complexity, and increase its fairness. We agree the burden of stamp duties is falling more heavily on consumers exposed to greater natural disasters and other risks and support the idea of reforms to remove or re-base state and territory stamp duties on home, contents, and strata insurance products. This has the potential to immediately relieve pricing pressure for all consumers in northern Australia.”
The ICA said it would support reforms to land-use planning and building standards by expanding the Australian Building Codes Board's remit to include property protection. It will release a more comprehensive review of the final report findings and the ACCC's recommendations this month.
