Page 600 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 9 March 2011

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MS BURCH: Not that has been brought to my attention, Mr Coe, at all.

Insurance—third-party

MR SMYTH: My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, I refer to a letter to the editor of the Canberra Times of 5 March 2011 in which a Brian Hatch contrasts the third-party premium of $517 that he would have to pay in New South Wales as compared to the premium of $487 that he would have to pay in the ACT. Treasurer, on what basis did you write in the Canberra Times of 4 March this year, and I quote: “Currently, ACT motorists pay the highest premiums in the country”?

MS GALLAGHER: Of course, we all wait with bated breath to hear what the Liberal Party, in a genuine attempt by this government to reduce the cost of living on individual householders, are actually going to do on that compulsory third-party insurance bill.

Members interjecting—

MS GALLAGHER: What are you going to do?

MR SPEAKER: Minister, the question.

MS GALLAGHER: A bill that potentially reduces the price of CTP from anywhere from $48 to $70 a year per household—or per driver, per motorist, in that household. It will be interesting to see what the Liberals, in the first test of something that can be done to reduce the pressure of the cost of living, actually do.

My comments in the Canberra Times are correct. As I have written to Mr Hatch, and I think as Mr Hatch probably already knew, the price included in New South Wales insurance also includes an $80 fee for catastrophic injury, which is not included in our premium. It also includes the ambulance levy, which is not included in our premium. Those two together equal $100. When you reduce that from the figures that Mr Hatch has seen, you will see that our premiums remain the highest in the country.

MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Smyth?

MR SMYTH: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Treasurer, what research did you undertake into third-party insurance premiums before you wrote your article for the Canberra Times?

MS GALLAGHER: Extensive and ongoing, Mr Smyth.

MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mrs Dunne?

MRS DUNNE: Minister, in your answer to the first question you said that your policy would reduce the tax by $48 to $70 per person. Can you provide for the Assembly the workings-out that support that assertion?

MS GALLAGHER: I have sought to make that information available. I think


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