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This is a joint submission from the Financial Rights Legal Centre (Financial Rights), Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) and Financial Counsellors’ Association of Western Australia (FCAWA).

We generally support the Code Government Committee (CGC) continuing to prioritise work on:

• Complaints handling
• Identification and treatment of vulnerable consumers
• Financial hardship
• Temporary accommodation
• Scope of works
• Cash settlements
• Claims delays and external experts.

We do so on the basis that:
a. we had put forward these issues as areas the CGC should prioritise during the 2025-26 consultation, and these continue to be the key issues we see on our respective services
b. natural hazards continue to impact Australians, with their flow on impacts on home and building insurance, and
c. the general insurance sector has yet to collectively act on these issues with either a strengthened code of practice in line with the Independent Code Review or any other actions arising out of responding to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the 2022 Floods.

To further support the work the CGC is undertaking with respect to complaints handling and vulnerability – we have outlined in our submission, some of the insights we have seen in our recent work with insurers.

Read our full submission (PDF).