New South Wales

by Alexandra Bartlett, President

AILA NSW started the calendar year with its annual general meeting on 7 February 2023.

It was great to have the event in person. We were privileged to partner with AILA patron Chief Justice Allsop to launch the eighth edition of Mann’s Annotated Insurance Contracts Act. This is an important text for many AILA members.

The next big calendar event for AILA NSW was the Annual General Insurance Law Review on 9 March 2023. This highly popular event is one of the best educational seminars in the insurance industry, providing high-quality analysis on case law on a range of topics.

The NSW committee will soon meet to set an events timetable for the year. Keep an eye out for fliers on popular events such as the Twilight Series and events from our YP committee. There is also planning in progress for activities to celebrate 40 years of AILA.

Victoria

by Darren Ferrari, President

The Victorian committee has had a great start to the year with a fascinating seminar on ASIC breach reporting, hosted by Clyde & Co.

Those who attended Stepping into the ASIC breach heard Mathew Kaley, from McCabes, Belinda Muir, from Honan Insurance Brokers, and Peter Hopkins, from AIG, discuss the challenges facing the insurance industry in navigating breach reporting obligations and the wider obligations under Chapter 7 of the Corporations Act.

The committee is hard at work putting together further events for 2023. We are aware of AILA’s mission to provide opportunities for members to meet and connect with each other, so we will look for more opportunities throughout the year for face-to-face events.

We were unable to hold the annual dinner in Melbourne, which is usually in February. We are looking at alternative events during 2023.

Victorian members will have plenty of opportunities to get together at the AIDA World Insurance Congress in Melbourne on 30 August – 1 September 2023. We are also considering events to celebrate AILA’s 40th anniversary.

We held the annual general meeting in February, at which the committee for 2023 was elected. Thank you to the 2022 committee for its work and welcome to the new committee members.

Tasmania

by Lisa Rankin, Branch President

As we roll into a new year of AILA events, the Tasmanian committee is gearing up for an exciting, jam-packed year.

There have been some changes in the committee as we welcome new members with a variety of professional backgrounds.

Planning is in progress for the highlight of the Tasmanian calendar, the Workers’ Compensation Masterclass.

The committee hopes to host a broad range of networking and educational events including a broker event series and summer and winter social events.

Queensland

by Jack Fairweather, Secretary

Queensland’s last event for 2022 was The mock trial returns: The vicissitudes of expert evidence.

It was presided over by Supreme Court Justice Graeme Crow with an all-star line-up of counsel from Hemmant’s List: Richard Douglas KC, Douglas Campbell KC, Emma Fitzgerald and Ryan Nattrass. Witnesses were Michael Lee (Vincents) and Priya Paquet and Drew Castley (both from Hall & Wilcox).

The event was attended by 130 guests and an excellent way to round out a busy year of seminars and events in Queensland. AILA thanks Justice Crow and all the counsel and witnesses involved for so generously donating their time at a busy time of year.

AILA Qld would also like to thank committee members who have left in 2023: Jason Fletcher, Nathan Mangelsdorf, Somrith Prak and Anna Stuart.

In particular, the committee thanks Nhu Huynh for her immense contribution as president. Nhu is replaced by Sarah Tuhtan (Corporate Counsel, Bluebook) for 2023.

The Qld committee also welcomes Sam Cooper, Megan Daniel, Alexandra King, Brett Solomon and Yolanda Suarez this year.

Queensland’s first event for 2023 was Climate change, extreme weather events and the rise of environmental liability on 9 February, hosted at Carter Newell, presented by Johanna Kennerley (Carter Newell Lawyers) and Alan Thorn (Liberty) and chaired by Sarah Tuhtan (Qld committee president).