Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer Senator Helen Coonan today welcomed the release of the Productivity Commission's research report on public liability claims management.
The report follows the Ministerial Meeting on Public Liability held on 30 May 2002, where Ministers had agreed that the Productivity Commission be asked to benchmark Australian insurers' claims management practices against world standards.
"The Productivity Commission has found that what is best practice for one claim may not be best practice for another, depending on the circumstances of the case and the jurisdiction in which the claim arose," Senator Coonan said.
"While the Productivity Commission did not undertake a formal benchmarking process, the Commission was able to conclude that competition in the public liability insurance sector is sufficient to ensure efficient and cost-effective claims management practices in Australia.
"What is pleasing is that the Productivity Commission also found that there is nothing inherent in claims management practices which would prevent consumers reaping the benefits of reforms to improve the availability and affordability of public liability insurance."
Senator Coonan said the Commonwealth continues to work with State and Territory Governments to restore balance to the public liability compensation system in Australia and the ACCC's six-monthly insurance market pricing reviews continued.
"State and Territory Governments are implementing reforms recommended by the Review of the Law of Negligence, as agreed by Ministers at the Ministerial Meeting on Public Liability held on 15 November 2002," Senator Coonan said.
"For the first time we have agreement for a national law of negligence. The Productivity Commission's assessment of the benefit of uniformity shows how the Government's leadership of a national approach to resolve the problem of insurance affordability and availability will pay dividends for Australians."