The Australian Government established the northern Australia Insurance Premiums Taskforce following concerns over rising insurance premiums in parts of northern Australia due to tropical cyclones. The Taskforce is charged with examining the feasibility of options to reduce home, contents and strata insurance premiums. These options include the creation of a mutual insurer that offers consumers insurance to cover losses caused by cyclones and a reinsurance pool that would offer reinsurance to all insurers covering their losses caused by cyclones. Financial Rights has made a submission to the Taskforce arguing that whichever model is recommended by the Taskforce, mitigation strategies, greater transparency and increased contestability of pricing must be at its heart and centre of any plan in order to ensure long term positive outcomes for homeowners and communities, value for money for Australian taxpayers and a healthier insurance market.
