MEDIA RELEASE SENATOR THE HON JAN MCLUCAS Shadow Minister for Mental Health Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness Senator for Queensland PROPER POLICY SOLUTIONS NOT THOUGHT BUBBLES ARE NEEDED 2015 must be the year Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch either comes up with a proper plan or admits his Government cannot bring insurance costs in North Queensland back down to where they were four years ago. Mr Entsch’s latest thought bubble on the establishment of a locally-owned insurer might sound like a good idea, but the reality is he’s doing little more than creating expectations and giving people false hope. I question whether Mr Entsch has done any proper policy development work because the advice I have been given suggests that an insurer established to service one high risk market is extremely unlikely to be sustainable in the long term. In opposition, Mr Entsch was extremely vocal and heavily criticised any actions the former Federal Labor Government took to fully understand the underlying issues and develop sensible initiatives to help halt further insurance increases. Mr Entsch even came up with his own policy recommendations for driving insurance costs down and says he drafted a Private Member’s Bill to address the issues, but more than two years later it still has not seen the light of day. “The Private Member’s Bill I have drafted is comprehensive, seeking to address a range of issues relating to insurance including the evident market failure... It is now awaiting approval.” Warren Entsch The Weekend Post, Saturday 20 October 2012 Mr Entsch also pushed heavily for the redirection of the Australian Reinsurance Pool to subsidise premiums in North Queensland but since coming into Government has barely spoken another word about it. We still haven’t seen the insurance comparison website the Abbott Government promised in its May Budget, and there’s no word on when grants to bodies corporate for engineering assessments of strata title properties will be available. Meanwhile, the Abbott Government ripped out $72.2 million from the National Insurance Affordability Initiative established by Labor. The National Insurance Affordability Initiative was set up to support communities to mitigate damage from flood and other natural disasters as a sustainable way to reduce insurance premiums over time. Experience in Australia and internationally has shown that mitigation can sustainably reduce insurance premiums. Wednesday 31 December 2014 Media contact: Melinda Eades 0408 743 457
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 00:44:51 +0000