Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements Determination 2012 - Independent Assessment of Tasmania's Property Insurance Arrangements

In the event of an eligible natural disaster, the Australian Government, through the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, provides financial assistance to the states and territories, usually in the form of partial reimbursement of actual expenditure to alleviate damage or distress arising as a direct result of the disaster.

Following substantial natural disasters on the mainland in early 2011, the NDRRA Determination was amended to require states and territories to have their property insurance arrangements independently assessed, and to publish the outcome of the assessment. Finity Consulting Pty Ltd was engaged to undertake the independent assessment of Tasmania's property insurance arrangements. A copy of Finity's assessment is provided here.

The assessment was also required to be provided to the Australian Government Attorney-General's Department for review to ensure that the State's property insurance arrangements are adequate. The Attorney-General's Department forwarded the assessment to the Department of Finance and Deregulation to manage the review.

In September 2012 the Department of Finance and Deregulation released its consolidated final report. Treasury is currently considering those recommendations that relate to Tasmania.

In late November 2012 the then Minister for Emergency Management, the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, wrote to the Premier in relation to the findings of that report. The Australian Government has requested that the Tasmanian Government provide its response to those recommendations by 30 June 2013.

In late December 2012, the 2011 Determination was amended by the Australian Government and a new Determination issued. The main change from the 2011 Determination related to the changes in the definition of essential public asset.