Insurance Council of Australia application for authorisation AA1000720 – Draft determination
Financial Rights Legal Centre (Financial Rights), Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action), Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) and Westjustice, welcome and support the ACCC’s proposal to not grant the authorisation.
As we made clear in our original submission to the application, consumer representatives did not take the decision to oppose the application lightly and are disappointed by the approach that the general insurance sector has taken to the critical issue of terms of exclusion in home insurance policies.
The consumer movement has long argued for the harmonisation and simplification of a bundle of related terms including “maintenance,” wear and tear,” “pre-existing damage” “good working order” deterioration” and “defects” in the form of a set of standardised definitions. Combined with educational materials and further reforms to insurer claims handling, we believe the harms we continue to see happening to our callers and clients can and should be addressed.
Read the letter below and full submission (PDF).
260814_ACCC_ICAMaintenanceAuth_DraftDet_Sub_FINAL