Page 205 - Be Reasonable – Do It My Way , Peter E. Daly AM, My Story

CHAPTER 19 - CONSUMER INTERESTS - THE 1990’S A PERIOD OF MASSIVE CHANGE
The rst General Insurance Code of Practice was launched in 1994. It is hard to believe that something ICA created has been part of the self- regulatory and now regulatory environment for nearly a quarter of a century and it continues to be reviewed and updated today.
In March this year the current Minister for Revenue and Financial Services Kelly O’Dwyer said:
“The first general insurance code of practice was introduced in 1994 and was one of the first of its kind in Australia-something not widely known about the insurance industry and something, I think, the insurance industry is not given credit for.”
Perhaps not only is the industry no longer given credit for it but maybe the industry itself no longer sees it as a consumer benefit?
Joe Isaac covers some of the history of the code in his book: IEC the first 10 years
As with the formation of the first Claims Review Panel and IEC, the introduction of the code was not without controversy. It was certainly not an entirely voluntary industry initiative as there was plenty of government pressure around codes at the time. Surprisingly, or maybe not, the life insurance industry was under pressure as a result of the disclosure of unfair practices and the government was in the process of mandating a legislated solution for the life industry.
An ICA executive at the time noted that the general insurance industry was facing the imposition of a solution to someone else’s problem. ICA’s response therefore was to propose a voluntary code.
We argued that it would give the industry a sense of ownership and a strong commitment. We also argued vigorously for a code based on principles of good insurance practice rather than a prescriptive code. This was not universally welcomed by the
205