Issue date: Monday, 1 June 2020

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics will hear from the General Insurance Code Governance Committee and the Insurance Council of Australia, as well as insurers at a public hearing via videoconference on 3 June 2020, as part of its ongoing Review of the Four Major Banks and other Financial Institutions.

The Chair of the committee, Mr Tim Wilson MP, said ‘these hearings are an important mechanism for the Parliament to publicly scrutinise and hold Australia’s insurance sector to account’.

‘Insurance is an essential way that Australians and Australian businesses manage risk and protect themselves from financial loss after disaster strikes. Australians must be able to rely on the insurance sector to provide high-quality policies and respond quickly when claims are made.’

‘The General Insurance Code Governance Committee’s recent findings regarding the substantial increase in code breaches is concerning. It is important that insurers have strong code compliance and governance frameworks in place to ensure that consumers are receiving the protections afforded to them by the code.’

‘The COVID-19 pandemic has also raised a number of relevant issues relating to policy coverage ranging from travel insurance to lenders mortgage insurance that also need to be explored.’

Public hearing details

Date: Wednesday, 3 June 2020
Time: 1.00pm to 4.30pm
Location: Videoconference

The hearings will be webcast at aph.gov.au/live.