Just when you thought the reform rush might be starting to slow down a little, along comes the HIH collapse and its attendant royal commission to give the legislators a whole lot more to tinker with.

Financial Services and Regulation Minister Joe Hockey says there’s still plenty to do in the wake of the HIH collapse. First up is a reform program to make sure no one ever again even thinks about slipping anything past APRA.

Mr Hockey told the ICA conference in Canberra last week that the impending HIH Royal Commission “will provide further impetus for reform of the general insurance industry”.

The Financial Services Reform Bill, which Mr Hockey still insists will be implemented on October 1, achieves an appropriate balance between the competing regulatory objectives of consumer protection and market integrity, Mr Hockey said. (The regulations answering many questions about the reform program are being eagerly awaited by the industry. As soon as they are available, we’ll let you know.)

Changes to the Insurance Act – which the Minister now refers to as the “General Insurance Reform Bill”  – will undergo further amendment when the Bill enters Parliament in the next few weeks. Several changes are designed to remedy technical drafting errors or omissions in the original Bill, and several others will toughen up the enforcement provisions of the Insurance Act.

Explaining that he wants to “harmonise and improve enforcement capabilities across all APRA-regulated institutions”, Mr Hockey said the amendments will improve APRA’s investigative powers and its capacity to gather information and issue directions to general insurers.

He said the Insurance Act’s current enforcement provisions “lack flexibility and require the establishment of a high level of certainty by APRA before it can take appropriate action”. The changes “are the Government’s response to APRA’s dealings with HIH”.

Mr Hockey also took a swipe at his tormentors over the HIH collapse – the state and territory governments that were highly critical of him and the performance of his departments, APRA and ASIC.

Noting that the HIH royal commissioner is charged with inquiring into the appropriateness of different state and territory statutory insurance and tax regimes, he said: “It is a good opportunity for ICA to take part in the debate on issues which have long been a sore point for the industry. I am certain that you need no encouragement from me to take up this opportunity.”