‘Greenslip' anger brewing in NSW

Motorcyclists could soon be paying well in excess of $2000 for compulsory third party insurance (‘Greenslips’) in New South Wales, according to representative groups.

The spectre of savage Greenslip increases is linked to the Motor Accident Injuries Amendment Bill 2013 (here), which is currently before parliament and calls for a shift to a no-fault system – rather than the current scheme where fault of another party must be proven before benefits can be received. This will bring NSW into line with Victoria.

Under the new system, the Motor Accidents Authority in NSW believes the number of claims by motorcyclists will rise by 1000 annually, and the statutory organisation quotes an average of $221,000 to rehabilitate a motorcyclist after they are involved in a crash with another vehicle.

“That could result in an increase in payouts to motorcyclists of $221 million. Just that increase alone is more than three times what we pay into the system currently, so riders are naturally worried and find it impossible to see how they can fund this without increasing our already overpriced Greenslips by at least 300 per cent,” said Christopher Burns of the Motorcycle Council of NSW.

Dave Cooke, Manager of the NSW Motorcycle Alliance said: “The MAA claims in a letter that it has had Ernst & Young go over the new proposals and that it can assure us we won’t be paying more for Greenslips, but it refuses to make the information from Ernst & Young public.

“This lack of transparency is frightening for all road users in NSW, not just motorcyclists, and I’m sure there’s not a single car or bike or truck owner in NSW who will trust the MAA when it says we should take them at their word about Greenslip pricing, given their history of failing to control the insurance companies and their  massive profits from the CTP system.”

“The main winners in the new system are the big insurance companies, and their increases in profits will come from the reduced payouts to innocent road crash victims.”

The bike groups are calling on the Motor Accidents Authority and NSW Finance Minister Greg Pearce to make public the Ernst & Young report to postpone the passage of the Bill while that report is analysed by NSW road users so everyone can determine the true impact.