Following the first anniversary of the September 11 terrorist  attacks, Assistant Treasurer Helen Coonan reflected last week on the bundle of problems that followed and ultimately forced her to concentrate on the insurance industry more than she had ever imagined she would.

Speaking at the ICA Victorian Conference in Melbourne, she criticised the states’ inability to deliver a uniform response to the insurance crisis. She said she is far from impressed with Tasmania, which  “is still thinking about tort reform”.

Senator Coonan was positive about the future, calling for a restoration of balance and common sense into the insurance system which she said “we can’t live without”. Referring to the “deep pocket syndrome”, she said people’s perception that insurers can pay large claims comes sadly unstuck when they realise that the deep pockets are in fact funded by their own insurance premiums.

While the Ipp review has delivered some relief to the industry and community, Senator Coonan said its recommendations so far form only “a minimum level of practical and common sense reform of public liability, professional and medical indemnity”.