House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Building Indemnity Insurance BUILDING INDEMNITY INSURANCE The Hon. I.F. EVANS House of Assembly Davenport BUILDING INDEMNITY INSURANCE The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (15:43): My question is to the Minister for Finance. When the minister stated last Friday that the government had reached an agreement on underwriting the building indemnity insurance scheme, was the minister correct, or was the Premier correct when he said on the same day that no agreement had been reached? The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL House of Assembly Cheltenham Premier Minister for State Development Minister for the Public Sector Minister for the Arts BUILDING INDEMNITY INSURANCE The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (15:44): The answer to the question is that I was correct but, in substance, the minister and I were saying much the same thing. From 1 July, the arrangements that QBE have provided for people to get insurance for building a new house, which is an essential and required component of legislation, will come to an end, so we have to be in a position to ensure that insurance is offered from that point, and the government will do that. There are some propositions, and some of them are quite advanced—perhaps not quite as advanced as the Minister for Finance thought, but they are certainly well advanced—and we do expect to come to a conclusion about those matters. But the government won't let this system of underwriting fail. We will make sure that there are appropriate arrangements put in place, and those steps will be finalised soon.