Assistant Treasurer Senator Helen Coonan today welcomed moves by major Australian insurance company Suncorp GIO to expand the availability of affordable public liability insurance.
Senator Coonan said Suncorp GIO had announced that as a result of legislative reforms, carried out by Federal and State Governments, it would be extending the availability of cover to groups and businesses that had previously been unable to get public liability insurance.
"After two successful meetings with my State and Territory counterparts and the introduction of legislation in the Federal sphere and a range of state jurisdictions, we are now seeing positive results," Senator Coonan said.
"The Government's moves to coordinate a national response to this issue have begun to pay dividends for the whole community.
"However, we need to keep up the momentum for reform. More is in the pipeline and more needs to be done, but I think Australians can take heart that changes being implemented at Federal and State levels are starting to bite.
"New South Wales will particularly benefit from the Suncorp GIO announcement, which is clearly a result of that State's decision to move quickly to implement reforms, which are also being introduced and implemented by many other States."
Senator Coonan said the Federal Government had led the way and introduced legislation to encourage the use of periodic payments to compensate negligence victims instead of one-off lump sum payments.
"And legislation has been introduced to amend the Trade Practices Act to allow people undertaking inherently risky recreational activities to waive their right to sue."
"The Government has also set up a panel, headed by Justice David Ipp, to review the law of negligence to generate further options for reform," Senator Coonan said.
Senator Coonan has convened a further meeting of State and Territory Ministers on 27 September 2002 in Sydney.