Breaking: Tasmanian government breaks flagship election promise as TasInsure overhauled

Premier Jeremy Rockliff made a promise during the 2025 state election to establish a state-owned insurance company. (ABC News: Kate Nickels) The Tasmanian government will no longer establish a state-owned insurance company, competing with other insurers, to offer home, contents and small business insurance to Tasmanians. The 2025 state election pledge was touted by the Liberals as the party's key policy. The premier says TasInsure will instead be established as "not-for-profit statutory authority" that oversees the insurance industry, a move welcomed by insurance companies. Link copiedShareShare articleThe Rockliff government will break an election promise to offer insurance to all Tasmanians through a state-owned insurance agency, instead establishing a new body to "oversee and support the insurance ecosystem". TasInsure was the flagship policy of the Liberals in last year's snap state election campaign, with Premier Jeremy Rockliff saying the insurance market had "failed Tasmanians". "TasInsure will offer affordable insurance for home, contents, small business, community groups and events, and regional insurance," he said when announcing it last July. The Liberals repeatedly promised it would save families $250 a year and small businesses 20 per cent on their insurance costs. The TasInsure website previously stated that the new company "will offer affordable, reliable insurance products for families, small businesses, and Tasmanian communities". Providing "general insurance" was also mentioned in draft legislation for the state-owned company. But on Thursday, the state government now says TasInsure will be a "not-for-profit statutory authority" with a "primary focus" of lowering the cost of insurance. "TasInsure will partner with insurers, brokers, reinsurers and other parts of the insurance system to address gaps in availability and affordability," the government said in a statement. The government has released an implementation plan for TasInsure, which will be established with legislation. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Mr Rockliff said he did not see it as a broken promise, believing the government could "better our commitments" through this path. The government says it's now "finalising TasInsure's initial market interventions to support hard-to-insure activities and risks", and will also "develop advisory, transparency and comparison functions to promote competition". The Liberals put up TasInsure branding on an office during the election campaign, following Mr Rockliff's announcement of the company. (ABC News: Morgan Timms) The TasInsure Implementation Plan says a number of concerns were raised about a state-owned company model, including risk to the budget, the ability of the state to respond to a disaster, and impacts on the private market. TasInsure will be stood up in three phases, "with early action delivering practical benefits for Tasmanians from the outset, and later phases introducing more complex market-facing initiatives", according to the plan. It will begin in the coming year with advisory services or community groups, and assisting hard-to-insure activities to gain insurance under a yet-to-be-determined structure. The plan indicates the third phase will be complete in 2028. TasInsure branding in Launceston was later taken down several months after the election. (Supplied) The state government engaged industry expert John Trowbridge to develop a framework for TasInsure, dubbing him the "Michael Jordan of insurance". He made a number of recommendations "to upgrade the competitiveness, affordability and availability of insurance". They include starting a "TasInsure-operated reinsurance pool that all insurers would use to reinsure Tasmanian weather events". TasInsure will be established as a body to "oversee and support the insurance ecosystem", under the government's new proposal. (ABC News: Morgan Timms) "The purpose of this pool would be to protect Tasmanian property owners from losses arising from major weather events (principally bushfires and floods), in substitution for current insurer protections, and simultaneously to insulate them from contributing to the funding of weather events in other parts of Australia," he wrote, warning it needed to be "designed with great care". He also recommended a "designated risk pool" for operators in tourism, outdoor recreation, live entertainment and hospitality sectors and community associations. Mr Trowbridge also recommended insurance advisory services and comparison services. RACT chief executive Mark Mugnaioni welcomed the state government's implementation plan, calling it "a positive step towards improving insurance affordability". TasInsure would have been a major competitor to RACT, Tasmania's major state-based insurance agency. Both the RACT and the national body representing insurers have criticised the TasInsure policy, calling it the wrong solution to rising insurance costs. Analys

Breaking: Tasmanian government breaks flagship election promise as TasInsure overhauled

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