Mr. Brian Hanley:

I thank the Senator for her question. There are a number of key areas that need to be addressed and the first is competition. There are some good ideas within the action plan about how they can increase the level of competition in the liability market, which has suffered from an absence of it for a number of years. For a time, we saw competition increase around motor insurance and that put some downward pressure on premiums but we have not seen that in liability cover. My sense is that the office promoting competition needs to be additionally resourced because, without additional resources, it is hard to see how it is going to get the priority status it needs, given that there are so many competing demands on officials' time.

That would be very welcome.

On the personal injury guidelines and addressing the legislation there, we saw earlier in the year some challenges about a proposed 17% increase in the cost of awards despite awards still being significantly higher here than in other countries. It was welcome, obviously, that the Government decided not to put forward that increase. However, there is an opportunity now - it is contained in the action plan - to look at international benchmarking and to have a greater role for the injury resolution board in providing data, etc., because it deals with cases in the thousands. Extending the review period from three years to seven years would be advantageous because three years is quite a short cycle, and even for insurers in terms of predictability and stability around their financial forecasting, there is obvious benefit to that too. We need international benchmarking. It is right and proper that awards for people are fair to claimants who have been injured through the negligence of someone else but they also have to be fair and reasonable to policyholders who are paying those premiums. It is important that any amendments that are due to be considered, as I understand it, later this year reflect on those principles.

There is one last point I would like to make. Members have already done so much to deliver changes. All those things are needed but we do not need to wait a day longer for premiums to come down. Maintaining members' interest is why opportunities like this are so important, as is speaking out in both Houses about the issue. The volume of claims is down by 40%, awards are down by 30%, profits for insurers in the liability space are almost two-and-a-half times the international norms and yet premiums are still going up. There is more than enough space there for premiums to come down in a meaningful and sustained way. Absolutely, let us look at these other areas that will benefit the system significantly but do not let it be a case that the members are all told that premiums will not come down until or unless we see legal costs and some such addressed. We just need to be mindful of that as well. More than enough has happened.