As state elections loom on the horizon in both NSW and Victoria, the insurance industry is once again considering the issue of state-based taxes and their impact on a whole range of other issues like underinsurance and affordability.

But the insurers are taking a different perspective on the issue. During question time at Friday’s Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) conference in Melbourne, National Insurance Brokers Association CEO Noel Pettersen asked where the taxes issue stands on the ICA agenda paper, and whether state elections next year might make the governments more willing to listen to the argument.

But Promina MD Michael Wilkins says the success of changes to the insurance taxes systems in SA and WA “should be heeded in both NSW and Victoria”.

Mr Wilkins says the issue is not a short-term one but a long-term one. “NSW is going through economic woes, so it is difficult to say to the state, ‘We want you to give this up’,” he said.

“We can’t just go to them and ram it home from a political point of view unless we have an answer about where they may be able to plug that revenue gap from,” he said. “Otherwise we’re on a hiding to nothing.”

QBE Group GM Business Development Raymond Jones says he’s surprised the consumer groups aren’t more vocal about the insurance taxes issue. “Why isn’t there a consumer backlash in terms of paying taxes? I don’t know. In Victoria, consumers are paying 70 cents in every dollar to tax, so there should be.”