‘The changes made to the laws of negligence across Australia have had a positive impact on the availability and affordability of public liability and professional indemnity insurance’ the Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer, Peter Dutton said today.
Speaking at the ‘Insurance Industry Debate’ organised by Minter Ellison at the Queensland Parliament, Mr Dutton released a new publication ‘Available and affordable: Improvements in liability insurance following tort law reform in Australia’.
‘In a positive display of federalism, the State and Territory Governments have worked with the Commonwealth to reform the laws relating to negligence following the insurance crisis of 2001-02’ Mr Dutton said.
‘This new publication summarises the changes made to various laws around the country and discusses the positive impact to date on the price and availability of public liability and professional indemnity insurance.
‘The early signs have been very promising with premiums for public liability falling by 13.4 per cent in 2005 and professional indemnity insurance falling by 6 per cent.
This follows on from falls of 6.9 per cent and 1.2 per cent for public liability and professional indemnity respectively in 2004.
‘I encourage all States and Territory Governments to maintain their commitment to the reforms so that the longer term benefits for individuals, community groups, professionals and business people will be realised’ Mr Dutton said.
The publication is available online at www.treasury.gov.au