Celebrations for AILA’s 40th anniversary

AILA President's message – Cameron Roberts

Happy 40th birthday to AILA.

It is exciting to celebrate this important milestone for AILA. It is a chance to reflect on the path AILA has taken to become a vibrant education-based organisation that continues to be at the cutting edge of the insurance industry. You can read more in an article in this issue of Resolve.

We are also marking the retirement of AILA’s inaugural patron, the former Federal Court Chief Justice James Allsop. I thank him sincerely for taking on the role and fulfilling it magnificently. Read more about former CJ Allsop’s retirement in this issue. 

Shorter award in progress

AILA’s annual Ron Shorter Award, a public speaking competition for young professionals in the insurance industry, is in progress.

Nominations closed at the end of April and 30 applicants were selected to participate in a free 90-minute online public speaking training workshop with AILA’s training partner, the Australian Institute of Management (AIM), on 19 May 2023.

Participants will join AIM and AILA representatives on 2 June to each give a two-minute presentation on their selected topic. The next step is that three finalists will be chosen to progress to the live final in Sydney on 23 August 2023 and receive an additional six hours of intensive training with AIM.

Congratulations to those selected to participate. This is an important AILA initiative to help YPs gain the skills needed to help them take their careers forward. Look out for your email invite to the final and join us in person or online to hear the industry’s future leaders showcase their new skills. 

WICA 2023

AILA is excited to host the international insurance law association AIDA’s XVI World Insurance Congress on 30 August – 1 September 2023 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Australia has hosted the prestigious event – held only every four years – once before, in Sydney in 1994.

Book early to take advantage of the early bird special offer.

I encourage all AILA and NZILA members to help promote the World Insurance Congress to their networks through AILA’s social media links.

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/wica2023
• Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wica2023
• LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14158130/

Please like and share the posts and encourage your colleagues to do likewise. We want WICA 2023 to be the biggest, brightest and best-ever AIDA World Insurance Congress, and we need members’ help to achieve that.

I look forward to welcoming you, and members of AIDA chapters from around the world, to Melbourne in August.

Net-Zero Insurance Alliance membership drops

The UN-convened Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) is a group of leading insurers and reinsurers that have committed to transition their insurance and reinsurance underwriting portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

However, three major members – Munich Re, Zurich and Hannover Re – have quit NZIA, citing antitrust risks, but also saying they remain committed to reaching their greenhouse gas emissions targets.

News service Thomson Reuters reported: “The charge that companies in such climate alliances could be guilty of breaking antitrust laws has been increasingly levelled by Republican politicians in some US states as part of a pushback against sustainability efforts.”

Two of the four key themes for WICA 2023 are ESG and climate change. I am certain the ultimate fate of NZIA and the corporate governance implications for insurers collaborating on global issues like climate change’s impacts will be front and centre in discussions at the World Insurance Congress.

It promises some lively debates – another good reason to book your seat now for WICA 2023.

APRA delays introducing CPS 230

APRA has delayed implementing its new operational risk management standard.

Prudential Standard CPS 230 Operational Risk Management is designed to strengthen the management of operational risk in the banking, insurance and superannuation industries.

In response to feedback received during the consultation period, APRA now intends to:

• move the effective date to 1 July 2025 (it was previously 1 January 2024); and
• provide transitional arrangements for pre-existing contractual arrangements with service providers. The standard’s requirements will apply from the earlier of the next contract renewal date or 1 July 2026.

APRA also plans to release a final version of CPS 230 and draft supporting guidance in mid-2023.

CPS 230 will replace five existing standards: CPS 231 Outsourcing and CPS 232 Business Continuity Management that apply to ADIs and life and general insurers; the equivalent superannuation standards SPS 231 and SPS 232; and the private health insurance standard HPS 231 Outsourcing.

It is pleasing to see the regulator is listening to industry feedback.

ASIC takes action on unfair contract terms

ASIC has lodged Federal Court proceedings against an insurer in its first case alleging unfair terms in insurance contracts.

The action is against Auto & General and follows the unfair contract term protections in the ASIC Act being expanded in 2021 to include insurance contracts with consumers and small businesses.

The expansion of unfair contract terms to insurance was a recommendation of the financial services royal commission.

ASIC’s announcement is here.

Appeal Court overturns property owners’ liability

The Queensland Appeal Court has overturned a judgement that found property owners liable for a man’s burns caused by one of his mates playing a prank.

The initial case was reported in the September 2022 issue of Resolve. 

In the Appeal Court, Justice McMurdo, with whom Justices Mullins and Flanagan agreed, found the property owners were not liable because, while they “undoubtedly owed a duty of care, the principal issue … concerns the scope of that duty. The injuries were inflicted by the deliberate, and indeed criminal, conduct of [the mate], over whom they had no control”.

Charles Oswald Dearden suffered severe burns to his upper body and limbs when he was a guest at a 21st birthday party at a farm outside Jondaryan.

He was burnt when another guest, Robert Andrew Taylor, deliberately applied a cigarette lighter flame to petrol he had poured onto Mr Dearden’s clothing.

The farm owners, Terrence Bernard Ryan and Nicole Therese Ryan, hosted the party for their son Daniel.

They were sued by Mr Dearden for damages for personal injury and joined Mr Taylor as a third party. The Ryans initially were found liable for $600,797.55 and given judgement against Mr Taylor for 70%.

Ryan & Anor v Dearden & Anor [2023] QCA 20 judgement 17/2/23