Do you live in northern Australia? Have you felt the pressure of rising premiums or had difficulty getting insurance? We want you to have your say on home, contents and strata insurance in northern Australia.

The ACCC has today released an issues paper for our inquiry into residential building, contents and strata insurance in northern Australia.

Our inquiry will help to address concerns about insurance affordability, promote more informed and more competitive insurance markets and make a difference for consumers in northern Australia. We are writing to organisations who we consider may have an interest in the issues that we are investigating.

In addition to the full issues paper, we have also developed a short version for consumers, which is based on Chapter 3 of the full paper. Both versions are attached. Consumers can respond in writing or via an online questionnaire (the questions are the same). Responses to the issues paper are due by 21 December 2017.

Further information about the inquiry, including the terms of reference, are on our website: www.accc.gov.au/insurance.

Public forums

We will also soon be holding public forums across northern Australia (details below). The forums are a chance for us to hear directly from the community. All interested parties are invited to attend and there is no need to pre-register.

How you can contribute

There are a number of ways you can contribute:

·         Provide a response to the issues paper from your organisation

·         If you have clients and/or staff who live in northern Australia, ask them to make a submission or respond to the online questionnaire as local consumers themselves

·         Spread the word to other interested organisations and local communities

·         We would welcome your support in promoting the public forums if you have a local presence - please get in touch with us.

If you can help us in another way, or if we can help you by drafting words or materials for you to use to help promote the inquiry, please let us know.

Please also let us know if you suggest we contact a different person in your organisation, or if you do not want us to contact you about the inquiry again.

Kind regards

Allison

Allison Crowe
Assistant Director | Northern Australia Insurance Inquiry
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Level 17, Casselden Place, 2 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 520, Melbourne, VIC 3001 | www.accc.gov.au 
T: +61 3 9290 1891 | E: allison.crowe@accc.gov.au