The NSW Government has introduced legislation allowing it to collect insurance data to use in modelling and designing a funding system to replace the Emergency Services Levy (ESL).

The Emergency Services Levy Act amendment will give Treasurer Daniel Mookhey authority to access anonymised data, subject to privacy protections, including premiums paid on policies and the ESL component.

“It’s imperative that the Government has access to the latest data held by insurers,” Mr Mookhey said today. “This will help to redesign the way emergency services are funded in NSW in the most effective way.”

NSW is the only mainland state to fund its emergency services by taxing insurance and it has the highest average premiums in any state apart from cyclone-prone Queensland.

The ESL has caused premiums in NSW to be about 18% higher for residential properties and about 34% higher for commercial properties, while the state has the lowest rate of home and contents cover in Australia. The Government says 35% of households go without contents insurance and 5% of homeowners do not have building insurance.

“With the cost of natural disasters only expected to rise with climate change, we’re acting now to find a better way to fund our emergency services and ease the burden falling disproportionately on households and businesses that choose to get insured,” Mr Mookhey said.

The Government last week said a new Stakeholder Reference Group would provide advice on the reform process.

The group includes Insurance Council of Australia CEO Andrew Hall and executives from Local Government NSW, the Property Council of Australia, the Real Estate Institute of NSW, the Shopping Centre Council of Australia, the Rural Fire Service, the Fire Brigade Employees Union, Business NSW and Marine Rescue NSW’s former commissioner.

A public consultation paper will be released in coming weeks.