The National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) has criticised One Big Switch for wrongly raising consumer expectations in Far North Queensland.

More than 75,000 people signed up for the consumer group’s campaign to drive down home and contents insurance premiums, but while insurer Coles offered discounts in some areas, no saving could be achieved for FNQ residents.

NIBA CEO Dallas Booth told insuranceNEWS.com.au this is “no surprise”, because there are no easy answers in such a difficult market.

“Some knee-jerk reaction focusing entirely on price is really not what that community needs,” he said. “They need advice, help and guidance. The One Big Switch process raised community expectations.”

Mr Booth says careful assessment of client risks and policy terms must be part of the process for obtaining insurance, and the community is “badly served by any approach that just focuses on price”.

One Big Switch co-founder Lachlan Harris says the lack of impact in FNQ was “deeply frustrating” and proves there is “little or no meaningful competition when it comes to home and contents insurance” in some parts of Australia.

The group has launched a petition calling on the Federal Government to “create a meaningful mechanism” to increase competition.

“The increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters and extreme weather events is the primary cause of this major decline in competition, but that doesn’t mean nothing can be done,” Mr Harris said.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission told insuranceNEWS.com.au that One Big Switch has begun operating as an authorised representative of Wesfarmers General Insurance Ltd.

Previously One Big Switch said it was happy acting as a referrer to Coles Insurance, but it made the change following “discussions” with ASIC.