A draft General Insurance Code of Practice will be released in the next couple of months by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), and the public will be invited to comment on the draft.

The long-awaited successor to the original 1994 code will have the potential to change the attitudes of many people within the industry, says ICA Deputy CEO Philip Maguire.

Speaking at the Australasian Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters Claims Convention in Melbourne last week, Mr Maguire said the “consultation draft” has yet to be signed off by the board of ICA, which is not scheduled to meet for some weeks.

“What goes out to the public won’t be the finished product,” he told Sunrise Exchange News. “We have framed the draft after a lot of consultation from a range of stakeholders. It has taken years. Now it’s the turn of the public.”

Admitting that ICA is prepared for “comments we may not like”, he said the industry now handles claims efficiently and effectively in most cases. “But the experience of last year’s Canberra bushfires demonstrated to us that we need to show compassion, too.”

The new code, which ICA Executive Director Alan Mason also indicated will need the involvement of brokers if it is to succeed, is also expected to address service standards and professionalism for the first time. Mr Maguire said the old code has been “negated by the developments of the past 10 years”.