Page 4170 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 21 September 2010
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Members will note that the bill contains a new provision which sets out the objects of the CTP act. These objects encapsulate the expectations which ACT motorists who are required to take out compulsory statutory insurance and which persons who are injured in motor crashes in the ACT are legitimately entitled to have of their CTP scheme. They reflect the direction of the reforms already made under the 2008 legislation and a commitment to keeping the ACT CTP scheme relevant to the needs of both ACT motorists and injured persons.
In summary, the objects of the act are to continue to improve our CTP scheme; the licensing and supervision of insurers; the promotion of competition; ensuring premiums are affordable; encouraging the early resolution of claims; promoting the rehabilitation of those injured in a motor crash; establishing a register to monitor the performance of the scheme; and last but not least, promoting measures that reduce the incidence of motor crashes in the ACT and mitigate their consequences. These objectives are broadly consistent with the objectives of other CTP schemes across the country and, in particular, New South Wales and Queensland.
Finally, two other amendments have been included in this bill. Firstly, there is an amendment to enable the average CTP risk premium across insurers under the new scheme to be made public. Secondly, there is an amendment requiring the ACT Insurance Authority, as Nominal Defendant, to keep and produce separate accounts in relation to its responsibilities as the Nominal Defendant, and to have these accounts audited. I hasten to advise members that ACTIA is already doing these things as a matter of course, so this second amendment is merely part of the legislative housekeeping process.
The other amendment—the publication of the risk premium—is, however, an important step for the ACT as we head towards competition. It will help to hold insurers accountable to ACT motorists for the effectiveness and efficiency of their claims handling and injury management systems. This is because the risk premium represents the minimum risk that an insurer faces in the provision of CTP insurance in the ACT, reflecting their share of the market. Specifically, the average risk premium will be required to be published by the CTP regulator as part of its annual report. ACT motorists are entitled to know whether the premiums they are required to pay by law represent good value and this provision will assist them in making that judgement.
The amendments proposed by this bill reinforce the reforms instituted by the CTP legislation passed by this Assembly in 2008. This bill seeks to build upon those foundations by clearly setting out the objectives of the scheme and defining the functions and responsibilities of the CTP regulator. By doing so, the bill will help to make CTP insurance a better value proposition both for ACT motorists and all those people who are injured, through no fault of their own, in motor crashes in this territory.
I thank members for their contributions to the debate and for working with us to try and bring competition to the CTP market in the ACT. It is an important reform and this legislation positions us well on the eve of competition entering the market. But I guess the legislative forum can only create the capacity for competition to arrive. We cannot force anybody into the market, and one of the deterrents to competition is the
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