Premiums could rise in indigenous towns
The “foolish destruction of property” could push up insurance rates in NT indigenous communities, a NT Supreme Court judge has said.
The comments came as 25-year-old Yarralin man Lachlan Daly was last week sentenced to home detention after starting a fire that destroyed a community house in the town south-west of Katherine.
In handing down the ruling, Justice Dean Mildren said actions like Mr Daly’s lead to insurance companies not covering indigenous communities or forcing them to raise premiums, which affects the whole community.
After the Howard Government’s intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities last year, community houses in those areas went from the books of local insurer TIO to the federal workers’ compensation scheme Comcare.
The comments came as 25-year-old Yarralin man Lachlan Daly was last week sentenced to home detention after starting a fire that destroyed a community house in the town south-west of Katherine.
In handing down the ruling, Justice Dean Mildren said actions like Mr Daly’s lead to insurance companies not covering indigenous communities or forcing them to raise premiums, which affects the whole community.
After the Howard Government’s intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities last year, community houses in those areas went from the books of local insurer TIO to the federal workers’ compensation scheme Comcare.