A range of initiatives to make insurance more affordable in North Queensland will be implemented as quickly as possible, after Federal and State Governments this week committed to address the problem.

Federal Assistant Treasurer, Senator the Hon. Arthur Sinodinos AO, and Queensland Premier Campbell Newman met in Brisbane this week, and will work together with the insurance industry to rein in costs and ensure more affordable insurance premiums in North Queensland.

“The extremely high cost of insurance in North Queensland is a problem that has been around for a number of years, it is causing significant financial and emotional strain for the North Queensland community.” said Senator Sinodinos.

“We were extremely heartened to discover that Senator Sinodinos shared our desire to work together to provide relief for people in North Queensland who are struggling with extremely high insurance premiums,” said Premier Newman.

“Our meeting built on the Newman Government’s 10-point action plan and we reached agreement on a number of actions to be implemented as quickly as possible.”

These include:

• An expanded Australian Government Actuary study into pricing of strata insurance in Northern Australia compared to southern states and a second study into insurance pricing for residential building and contents insurance;
• Development of an insurance aggregator for the North Queensland insurance market for strata, home building and contents insurance;
• Consideration of allowing foreign insurers access to the North Queensland insurance market;
• Reviewing the payment of insurance commissions to strata managers;
• Development of a program engineering assessments for strata properties in North Queensland to identify risks to property that can be mitigated.

These initiatives will be communicated to over the coming weeks with a view to receiving feedback from the industry and community.