Lawyers say the NSW reforms will have little impact on premiums. They say the only effect capping payouts will have is reducing the number of small insurance claims, particularly for shopping centres.

IBNA CEO Paul Serong told a Sydney newspaper that a reduction in premiums will only be seen “over the next four or five years”. Russell Adams, a partner with Phillips Fox in Sydney, which usually acts for insurance companies, said that in the medium term premiums will stay high as litigants and their lawyers will find loopholes in the law.