The fire services levy (FSL) campaign in NSW and Victoria won’t be at the top of the industry’s agenda for 2005 because it’s just too hard to get politicians to take note.

At the Insurance Council of Australia’s (ICA) Insurance Outlook conference in Melbourne last week, consultant Grahame Morris – partner at Jackson Wells Morris and former chief of staff to Prime Minister John Howard – said he had recommended moving the FSL campaign to number 15 on the agenda, rather than hold it at number one.

NSW, Victoria and Tasmania impose a tax on policyholders’ home and contents insurance to pay for state fire services. People with no insurance in these states still have access to fire services but don’t pay for it.

Other states have implemented rates-based systems – all homeowners are charged a small fee on top of their property rates to pay for the service.

Despite initial enthusiasm, lobby groups’ efforts to implement rates-based fire services systems have been thrown out this year by NSW and Victoria.

Mr Morris said any proposal that “adds political hurt” – like the additional cost to homeowners under a rate-based fire services payment system – is “likely to go underwater”.

ICA Executive Director Alan Mason told the conference the campaign didn’t get off the ground because there was no community pressure to change FSL. “While the NSW Government accepted our view, they just didn’t have the motivation to do it.”

He said ICA will not drop the campaign altogether, but the issue won’t be a top priority.