Most big Australian insurance companies are “swimming in cash”, according to newspaper columnist Mark Westfield. The controversial writer for The Australian, whose aim is often well off target, used last weeks’ half year results announcements for new ammunition.

He said insurers “raced to exploit the public uncertainty caused by the September 11 attacks and the collapse of HIH” in order to hike up public liablity and professional indemnity premiums.

And the country’s liability crisis is part of the “legacy left by HIH’s collapse and the greed of surviving insurers”.

“The insurers are very good lobbyists for their cause, which is to increase profit at the expense of Australian consumers,” he wrote. “The insurers are ratcheting up premiums as far as the market will bear, and beyond, and some are using another well-worn tactic to increase profit by simply refusing to pay claims, or delaying payment.”     

Mr Westfield suggested the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority should have a panel of adjudicators to decide “whether an insurer should not pay a claim”. Ignoring the existence of dispute resolution schemes normally judged as responsive and effective, he added: “This would be one way of ensuring some fairness in an industry playing field heavily tilted against users, most of them whom have no choice but to buy overpriced products from players exhibiting all the signs of a cartel.”

The industry has obviously decided Mr Westfield’s commentaries have become too ridiculous to be worth answering. By week’s end no organisation or industry individual had taken the trouble to dispute his assertions.