December 2014

New South Wales

by Penny Patterson

The 2014 Ron Shorter Award was won by Benjamin Briscoe, from Allianz, who won a trip to Hamilton Island and an opportunity to speak to delegates at the national conference.

His presentation was well received. Planning for the 2015 Ron Shorter Award is in progress. If you or your staff are interested in getting involved next year, details will be available soon.

The Twilight seminars have finished for 2014 and the topics and speakers were of their usual high quality. Thanks to Paul O’Brien and the subcommittee for their hard work in arranging the seminars and special thanks to Minter Ellison for hosting the series.

Planning is well advanced for 2015 seminars, including the Twilight series, a seminar examining construction, one on finance and law for insurers.

The NSW AGM was on October 30. The new committee is:

Chair:
Angus Kench

Secretaries (joint)
Linda Hamilton, Hamilton Lawyers
Lisa Smith, APRA

Treasurer:
Chris Ehlers, MDD Forensic Accounting

Immediate past chair:
John Edmond, Clyde & Co

Committee:
Joerg Ahrens, Allianz
Peter Backe-Hansen, Allianz
Stephen Brooks, Jardine Lloyd Thompson
Robert Crittenden, DLA Piper
Edmund Fernandez, General Reinsurance Australia
David Gerber, Clayton Utz
Ray Giblett, Norton Rose Fulbright
Justine Hall, ICA
Matthew Harding, HWL Ebsworth
David Kearney, Wotton + Kearney
Mohinder Kumar, Suncorp
Lucinda Lyons, Lee & Lyons
Paul O’Brien, YPOL
Andrew Thomas, Cunningham Lindsey

Thanks to John Edmond for all his work during his tenure, including chairing the 2013 national conference, which took a huge amount of time and effort to organise. 

The 2015 education committee will be chaired by Clare Branch, of Gilchrist Connell, with Kerry Stewart, of Henry Davis York, stepping down as chair. Thanks to Kerry for doing a wonderful job motivating the committee to be involved in a great range of seminars. 

If there are any topics and/or speakers you would like to hear, please contact me. I wish you all a big thank you for your support during 2014 and hope the festive season treats you well.

Palmerston North – New Zealand

by Jonathan Scragg

NZILA’s first event in Palmerston North was on October 23.

The liability discussion group consisted of three speakers:

  • Jonathan Scragg, a partner with Duncan Cotterill and NZILA president, spoke on the liability of multiple defendants and the Law Commission’s June 2014 report
  • Alastair Hall, a partner with Fitzherbert Rowe, spoke on health & safety issues
  • Myles Noble, head of claims for Crombie Lockwood and NZILA vice-president, then led a general discussion on the latest developments in the insurance market

Presentations ran for about 20 minutes each, followed by Q&A and drinks and refreshments.

About 30 people attended and a lively debate ensured on issues like offshoring claims and new players joining the market, both offshore imports - like Youi, Chubb and Berkshire Hathaway - and home-grown companies, like Delta, a Lloyd’s managing agent run by industry stalwarts Ian Pollard and Craig Kirk.

Another key topic for discussion was the IAG and Lumley integration and opportunities the merger, and the general capacity available in the market, created for new smaller players to emerge and seize opportunities to grow.

The slow progress with earthquake claims was discussed. While the great majority of commercial claims are nearing finalisation, several more complex and difficult domestic claims are now working their way through the High Court’s Earthquake List.

The audience was predominantly claims professionals, brokers and loss adjusters, with fewer lawyers – a pleasing feature.

NZILA aims for the Palmerston North event to be at least annual and possibly bi-annual.

Christchurch, New Zealand

by Richard Johnstone

The NZILA Christchurch branch met in October for its third meeting in 2014 with 45 attendees.

Eric Bird, from Arrow International, gave a geologist's perspective of the Canterbury earthquake sequence, explaining why Christchurch has a liquefaction hazard and what happened to the land in 2010 and 2011 events, particularly the eastern parts of Christchurch.

Eric drew on historic documents that showed the original ground and its uses against which he overlayed the findings of liquefaction susceptibility studies in the 1990s and again in 2005. 

Eric supported the decisions to red zone certain land, excluding future development for residential use.  He also strongly supported the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment guidance documents and the design and construction criteria approach taken, in preference to prescriptive rules. 

He was very positive about the future of Christchurch, but recognised there was still a long way to go to fix the remaining damaged houses and buildings before we can put the earthquakes behind us.

The next meeting is planned for March 2015.

Northern Territory

by Michelle Coleman

The 2014 Territory Insurance Conference, Resilient tomorrow, was a resounding success, with delegates hearing from 24 speakers, including globally and nationally renowned experts in their fields.

TIO CEO Richard Harding said it was excellent to see so many delegates attending. “This conference is about providing insurance professionals educational opportunities that weren’t previously available in the NT,” he said.

“By filling this gap, we are creating a strong legacy for the future, by growing tomorrow’s leaders and building a more resilient NT insurance industry.”

Winners in the inaugural Territory Insurance Awards were:

• Candice Lucas, from Allianz - Casualty Claims Professional of the Year, sponsored by eReports

• Sarah Kempton, from OAMPS - Broker Professional of the Year, sponsored by TIO

• AILA NT treasurer Dale Demarco, from Lumley Insurance - Sales & Underwriting Professional of the Year, sponsored by TIO

• Wayne McDonald, from Claim Central - Property Claims Professional of the Year, sponsored by LMI Group

• Angela Pilcher, from Vocational Management Services - Service Provider Professional of the Year, sponsored by TIO

• Amanda Derrick, from Allianz - Young Insurance Professional of the Year, sponsored by Mlcoa

Winners of the NT insurance industry awards, from left, Candice Lucas, Sarah Kempton, Dale Demarco, Wayne McDonald, Angela Pilcher and Amanda Derrick.

The winners each received $3,500 prize money, a trophy and recognition in front of their peers during the ceremony.

Richard Harding said: “Not only do these awards acknowledge outstanding achievers for the first time, they help to promote excellence in the Territory’s insurance industry in the long term.”

Platinum sponsors were eReports and Mlcoa, and gold sponsors were Claim Central, Marsh, Medilaw, Oamps and Resilia.

Tasmania

by Brian Aherne

On November 3, 38 attendees heard an interesting talk from Michael Thompson SC, from Victoria, on the topic: The construction and application of insuring clauses in policies of liability
insurance.

On August 27, Supreme Court of Tasmania Justice Robert Pearce addressed 42 attendees on the subject: Do findings made in Tasmania lead to an estoppel in subsequent proceedings before the Supreme Court?

AILA Tasmania’s AGM is scheduled for Friday, December 12, at 4pm in the boardroom of the Hobart Corporate Centre.

Victoria

by Richard Adamczyk

It has been a very busy year for the Victorian Chapter.

Final seminars for the year included The Year in Review, presented by Professor Greg Reinhardt and Fred Hawke of Clayton Utz in September; and a Civil Procedure Act 2010 Update, presented by Associate Justice Daly and Judge O’Neill in October. Willis’s Andrew Dawson and Graham Kenafacke, from Workplace Risk Practice, presented on Insuring workplace safety risks on November 18.

Having held almost a seminar a month, 2014 was very successful. A highlight was the inaugural Sir Ninian Stephen Insurance Law Masterclass.

In 2015, a networking event will be in early February, the AGM on February 25 at the RACV Club, and then a joint seminar with ANZIIF. Victoria has the pleasure of hosting the 2015 national conference.

Thanks to the 2014 committee for all their hard work throughout the year and I look forward to a challenging but no doubt rewarding 2015.

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