Federal Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino (pictured) is set to deliver a direct warning to Australia's insurance industry, flagging mandatory premium disclosure requirements and demanding that industry codes of practice become legally enforceable. The speech today could signal a new era of regulatory pressure that will reshape how brokers navigate insurer relationships and client conversations.
The minister's remarks carry the weight of personal experience. Before entering the ministry, Mulino chaired the parliamentary committee that found insurers had dragged out claims when customers were at their most vulnerable following the catastrophic 2022 floods, a finding that continues to inform his approach to the sector.
At the centre of Mulino's address will be a forceful push to make the General Insurance Code of Practice (The Code) contractually enforceable and subject to oversight by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) A draft of the revised code is due for public consultation within weeks, with the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) expected to submit the final version to ASIC before year end.
"When Australians make an insurance claim, they are often under immense pressure," Mulino is set to say. "That is why agreed reforms to make industry codes ASIC-approved and contractually enforceable are important for transparency and accountability. They signal that expectations around fairness, claims handling and communication are not voluntary aspirations, but enforceable standards."
For brokers, an enforceable code changes the landscape for dispute resolution and creates clearer grounds for clients to challenge insurer conduct. Brokers who have long managed the gap between insurer promises and delivery on claims will have a stronger regulatory framework to point to.
The timing is pointed. In May, the General Insurance Code Governance Committee (GICGC) reported that claims handling still accounted for the majority of code breaches, with its chair Veronique Ingram calling on insurers to use data more systematically to learn from repeated mistakes rather than dismissing them as one-off human error.
The second major front Mulino is expected to open is on premium pricing, an issue that has become acute for brokers managing client renewals as premiums have risen at more than twice the rate of inflation over the past decade, according to the Climate Council.
The minister is set to flag that mandatory disclosure could be triggered whenever a policy renewal moves by more than 10 per cent, requiring insurers to provide at least a quantitative or qualitative breakdown of what is driving the increase.
"Where a policy changes in price materially - say, over 10% - it isn't unreasonable for a consumer to expect at least some kind of quantitative or qualitative breakdown," Mulino is expected to say. "I believe that we can improve price transparency in ways that are both meaningful for consumers and that improve the efficiency of markets."
For brokers, this is potentially significant. A mandatory breakdown of premium drivers - whether climate risk recalculations, reinsurance costs, or claims history - would give brokers far more to work with when managing client expectations at renewal and when shopping coverage across markets.
The Insurance Council said it understood the strong interest in pricing transparency and would work with the government to avoid unintended consequences — measured language that nonetheless acknowledges the direction of travel is now set.
For brokers, today's message from Canberra is likely that the rules of engagement between insurers and customers are being rewritten and the minister is watching.
