Federal MP Warren Entsch has accused the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) of mounting a “scaremongering” campaign on north Queensland consumers.

The Liberal member for Leichhardt is angry that ICA is to attend public meetings in Edmonton tonight and Innisfail tomorrow at the request of Bob Katter, the crossbench MP for Kennedy.

Mr Entsch, who has a long-standing interest in insurance affordability in north Queensland, is not invited to attend.

The theme of the meetings is “developing a way forward in insurance affordability”.

They are to be addressed by local business leaders and MPs, plus ICA GM Policy Risk & Disaster Karl Sullivan, who will discuss possible insurance solutions.

“This has nothing to do with solutions,” Mr Entsch told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “It’s to peddle bulls**t from ICA and to frighten people off using foreign insurers.”

Last month the Federal Government announced brokers will be allowed to place home and contents cover with unauthorised foreign insurers (UFI) if they offer better prices than local carriers.

It also authorised the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to create an aggregator website for domestic cover in north Queensland.

Mr Entsch is a long-time critic of ICA for not addressing affordability in flood and storm-prone north Queensland.

He says Mr Katter’s involvement in the public meetings is “bizarre”.

“Mr Katter has been missing in action on this issue for the past four years,” he said.

Mr Entsch says ICA’s involvement in the meetings is a response to the Government’s decision to allow UFIs into the market, which “clearly poses a threat to the insurers’ profit margin”.

“My message to ICA is clear: don’t start a rearguard action telling consumers in Far North Queensland that the Government’s initiatives are dangerous,” he said. “It’s pure scaremongering.”

The public meetings fall within Mr Katter’s expansive electorate.

ICA spokesman Campbell Fuller has rejected Mr Entsch’s criticism and says it is not up to the council to ensure the MP is invited to the meetings.

“We did not initiate the meetings; we were invited by Mr Katter,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “ICA frequently responds to opportunities to talk to communities about their [insurance] risks.

“Mr Entsch is entirely free to advocate what he thinks is the best path forward for his constituents.”