A consumer lawyer with experience in life and funeral insurance disputes will join the body responsible for monitoring industry compliance with the Life Insurance Code of Practice, as an independent review of the Code works through 45 recommendations that would significantly expand the committee’s enforcement powers and tighten obligations on insurers across underwriting, claims handling, and product design.
Anna Meulman, currently a managing lawyer at the Consumer Action Law Centre, will take up the consumer member position on the Life Insurance Code Compliance Committee (Life CCC) from July 1, 2026, replacing Alexandra Kelly of the Financial Rights Legal Centre, who has held the position since the Code came into effect in 2017. Life CCC chair Jan McClelland AM thanked Kelly for her contribution, noting she had helped “ensure consumer perspectives are reflected in our work promoting and monitoring compliance with the Code” since its inception.
Meulman will sit on a three-member body that monitors insurer compliance with the Code, conducts investigations and inquiries, and can impose sanctions – including Community Benefit Payments – on insurers found to have committed serious breaches. She leads a team at the Consumer Action Law Centre handling consumer and financial services matters for individuals and community workers across Victoria. Her background includes representing clients in disputes involving life and funeral insurance, contributing to the Financial Services Royal Commission, and delivering insurance training to financial counsellors and community legal practitioners.
McClelland said Meulman’s background would be relevant to the committee’s ongoing work. “Anna brings a strong understanding of the issues affecting consumers, including vulnerable consumers, in the financial services sector. Her experience in consumer advocacy, complaints handling, and legal assistance will be valuable as we continue our work monitoring compliance with the Code and promoting fair outcomes in the life insurance industry,” McClelland said.
Meulman’s arrival coincides with an independent review of the Life Insurance Code of Practice that is currently underway. CALI CEO Christine Cupitt said the timing was significant. “Strong, independent oversight of the Life Code is essential to maintaining trust and accountability across the life insurance industry. Ms Meulman’s experience at the Consumer Action Law Centre will bring an essential customer perspective to the Committee at a time when the industry is actively working to ensure the Life Code remains strong, practical, and aligned with community expectations,” Cupitt said.
In December 2025, the Life CCC lodged a submission to that review putting forward 45 recommendations. Among the most significant for insurers is a proposed definition of “blanket exclusion” intended to close a loophole that has allowed some insurers to deny mental health cover without individual assessment. The Life CCC’s own inquiry found that four of six insurers examined were selling products with blanket or broad mental health exclusions – a finding with direct implications for insurers currently writing or reviewing mental health-related products, and for how legacy products are treated at point of sale.
The submission also called for CALI to seek Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) approval for the updated Code, a step that would align it with the Banking Code of Practice and place it under a more formal oversight framework. The General Insurance Code of Practice is also pursuing ASIC approval, suggesting the push reflects a broader directional shift in how financial services self-regulatory frameworks are being structured across the sector rather than a concern specific to life insurance.
On enforcement, the submission recommended removing restrictions that currently exempt the most serious breaches from Community Benefit Payment sanctions. Under current rules, the most serious breaches are almost always exempt from such sanctions because they are reportable to ASIC – the category of breach the committee considers most warranting of financial penalty.
Meulman steps into the role against a backdrop of active compliance concerns. The Life CCC’s 2024-25 Annual Industry Data and Compliance Report, released May 11, 2026, recorded the lowest number of customers affected by Code breaches since the Code was introduced in 2016. However, the report identified a rise in breaches related to the timely payment of income protection benefits and found that complaints about total and permanent disability (TPD) claims have increased consistently over recent years – with TPD claims meeting the Code’s six-month assessment target only 80% of the time in the most recent reporting period.
McClelland said income protection delays carried tangible consequences for affected customers. “Income protection benefits are designed to provide financial stability at a time when customers may be at their most vulnerable. Delayed payments can place additional strain on people who are already dealing with significant personal and financial challenges,” she said.
Meulman’s experience with funeral insurance disputes is also directly relevant to concerns flagged in the same report. Funeral insurance accounts for just 2% of covers in force but generated 7% of all complaints over the reporting period. Consumer credit insurance presents a starker imbalance: also representing 2% of covers, it accounted for 15% of complaints, with 92% of those relating to sales practices and advertising – the precise area of consumer law in which Meulman has practised. Both patterns have been linked by the committee to their impact on vulnerable and First Nations customers.
The combination of an active Code review, a proposed expansion of the committee’s sanctions powers, and a new consumer member with a litigation background in the products generating the highest complaint volumes signals that compliance scrutiny is unlikely to ease in the near term.
