Compulsory Third-Party Insurance

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (15:10): Supplementary: will there be any ongoing regulatory role from the state government's perspective with regard to CTP insurance premiums?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (15:10): That is actually a very good question: will there be a very high level of regulatory oversight in this? The government is contemplating this, and we will make sure that there is a high level of regulatory oversight. The important thing about allowing this bit to be open to the private sector for competition is, if you don't have strong oversight and strong regulation, you can get outcomes that are not necessarily beneficial to consumers. But there is nothing that says that strong regulation and private interaction can't work and work well and give a good outcome, not only for those who regulate, but those who we seek to regulate.

I think what we are going to see here is a good outcome for consumers, who will be given more choice. That is a good thing. We want to offer families choice of their insurance provider and we want to make sure that there is strong regulation there to protect families from increasing costs. It is an important part of the privatisation of the Motor Accident Commission, and I will look forward to bringing more information to the house as we get to a solution closer to 1 July 2016, or sooner, depending on when the final transition occurs.