The HIH Royal Commission team is beginning to take shape as an anxious insurance industry gears up with a massive legal and administrative effort of its own.

The industry is understood to be budgeting well over $2 million to secure the best possible representation at the Royal Commission, which officially comes into existence on Monday. The high-powered insurance legal group is being organised through the Insurance Council, which is understood to be levying members to pay for it.

There’s a lot at stake for the industry, which will be less concerned with the “personalities” involved than the circumstances which led to the collapse. “There’s a great deal of concern that we present our view of things clearly,” one insurer source said. “There’s a lot at stake. Not all of it is directly connected with HIH. There’s a very good chance to get the matter of statutory classes and state control on to the table.”

Time will tell. In the meantime, don’t expect too much too soon from Royal Commissioner Justice Neville Owen. “It will take a bit of time to sort out,” a legal source said. “You won’t see much action while they sort out the information and organise the hearings.”

That’s a view confirmed by commission secretary Richard St John, who agreed the case will potentially be a long and complex one. But he has made it clear he believes the June 30 2002 deadline can be met, despite the industry’s anxiety. The first hearings are likely to be used to discern who can be represented before the royal commission.

Justice Owen’s legal team was named late last week, and its high-profile composition has won approval from the legal fraternity. Wayne Martin, QC, is a leading Perth barrister; Richard Whyte is a Sydney Senior Counsel and Norman O’Bryan, also an SC, is from Melbourne.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has introduced amending legislation into Parliament to ensure that the royal commission can share its information with ASIC, which is conducting its own investigation into the collapse of HIH in March.