The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has introduced new strategic blueprints to illustrate what it plans to achieve next year.

President Michael Hawker told delegates at ICA’s “Outlook Conference – Risk and Disaster Planning” in Melbourne on Friday the council wants to act on a more prospective – rather than retrospective – basis.

He says ICA has developed a set of six blueprints to ensure consistency of public policy development over time. The six are: contributing to Australia’s economic strength; community safety and support; disaster planning response and recovery; environment and climate change; personal injury management and compensation; and industry leadership.

Mr Hawker says the industry has been talking about climate change for 25 years, but initiatives such as the recent Al Gore film “An Inconvenient Truth” have raised community awareness.

“I have had five ‘one in 100 years’ events occur since becoming CEO [of IAG] five years ago, so I guess you can say natural disasters are increasing in frequency and ferocity,” he said.

Mr Hawker says ICA has a climate change program that examines associated factors and ways the industry and government can work together to manage the challenges associated with the phenomenon.

ICA will also continue to push for insurance tax reform, Mr Hawker says. The fire services levy charged by NSW, Victoria and Tasmania is an inequitable tax that raises the cost of insurance and consumers’ ability to insure.

ICA also wants harmonisation between the states on benefits and schemes designed for workers’ compensation and CTP insurance. Developing a national scheme will make injury management and compensation more stable, predictable and affordable.

“They are currently managed separately and there are huge inefficiencies.”