Consumer groups fear recommendations arising from the year-long review of the General Insurance Code of Practice may be “buried”.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) revealed last week that changes are unlikely to be implemented this year.

The independent review, conducted by insurance lawyer Ian Enright, resulted in a 200-page report that was presented to the ICA board last month, but has not been published.

The Insurance Law Service made a submission on behalf of consumer advocates, but its Principal Solicitor Katherine Lane says stakeholders have not been given access to the final report.

“It seems to imply they want to bury it,” Ms Lane told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “You don’t appoint someone to do a 12-month independent review and not release it. The public deserves to know what’s in that report.”

ICA says a subcommittee of “senior representatives from ICA member companies” will “review and assess the report’s remarks, findings and recommendations” before presenting the findings to members by the end of the year.

A decision on releasing Mr Enright’s or the subcommittee’s reports to the public “will be determined by the ICA board”.

The final decision on which, if any, recommendations will be adopted – and when – also rests with the ICA board, but the council says a timeframe has yet to be finalised. 

Ms Lane has called for Mr Enright’s report and ICA’s response to be released before the end of this financial year, to allow changes to be implemented before the summer natural disaster season.

She says failure to update the code before floods or cyclones strike, and the consumer complaints that could follow, would be bad for ICA’s credibility and “an absolute shame”.