The Federal Government will establish a comparison website for home and contents insurance in north Queensland and allow unauthorised foreign insurers to operate in the market.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann this morning said the initiatives would address insurance affordability in the region.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will establish the website by next March.

“The site will enable consumers to compare the performance of insurers on price, product features and claims-handling complaints,” Senator Cormann said.

“The Government is also boosting competition by clarifying that licensed brokers can sell policies from foreign insurers where they offer consumers a better price.”

The announcement took the industry by surprise and comes ahead of a report on home insurance pricing by the Australian Government Actuary.

Queensland premiums have jumped by hundreds of percent in recent years and insurers say they reflect cyclone risk.

The industry has rejected a comparison website, with the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) saying there is no evidence that intervention in the market is needed.

ICA is this morning trying to clarify how an aggregator would work.

Spokesman Campbell Fuller told insuranceNEWS.com.au “the industry is deeply concerned about the prospect of unauthorised foreign insurers entering the market and not being held to the same prudential regulation and consumer protection laws and regulations as licensed Australian insurers”.

We will update this report as details come to hand.