The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has urged the Opposition and minor parties in the Senate to support passage of the Trade Practices (Personal Injury and Death) Bill as a means of improving the availability of public liability insurance cover.
The executive director of the ICA, Alan Mason says that it is crucial the legislation is passed before Christmas because of the benefits it is likely to deliver over the longer term.
The legislation, if passed, has implications across a range of business sectors, including financial services in terms of improving sentiment towards professional indemnity coverage.
Debate on the legislation is scheduled to begin in Federal Parliament today.
“The bill is an essential piece in the cooperative effort by the Commonwealth, States and Territories to reform the laws of negligence,” Mason says.
“It removes the ability to take proceedings under Part V Division 1 of the Trade Practices Act, which relates to misleading or deceptive conduct,” he says.
Mason says that in circumstances where the States and Territories have enacted tort reform, the Trade Practices Act will become an attractive legal alternative unless it is reformed.
“Without the proposed amendments, insurers will continue to face uncertainty about the cost of claims and volatility in the market will remain,” he says.
Mason says that even if the bill is passed the reform process will not be complete, with further changes expected to be introduced to the Parliament next year.
“In the meantime, insurers have indicated to governments that they are more positive about the public liability market, and cover is now available in some risk categories where in the past it has been hard to obtain,” he says.
