‘Absolute Rambles’: Treasurer Jim Chalmers exploits the opposition about confusion around the insurance disinvestment policy

On Tuesday, Peter Dutton was forced to clarify his commitment to break great insurers, to improve competition.

“We are going to disburse if that is what is required to take the competition to the market,” Dutton said, while visiting an emergency management center in Gold Coast.

The comments of the opposition leader are consistent with an interview that gave Sky News last month, in which he revealed that a coalition government “would intervene” in the insurance market if consumers did not receive a “just go.”

But since then, two of his main colleagues, Shadow Angus Taylor and the attached liberal leader Susan Law, have suggested that divestment would be limited only to supermarkets and hardware stores.

When trying to clarify the confusion, Dutton confirmed on Tuesday that if the specific criteria were met, the disinversion of the insurers would be considered.

“If the Council for our Government is that there is a concentration of power or market share conferred on large insurance companies in this country, and that the market share concentration has led companies and families that cannot obtain insurance coverage, or in fact, to people who pay astronomical prices for their cousins ​​and, therefore, market failure, my government will act,” he said.

Dutton first raised the possibility of threatening to break insurance companies in an interview with Sky News Andrew Clennell political editor on February 16.

“As we have done with supermarkets, where we have threatened divestment if consumers are being scammed, similarly in the insurance market, we will intervene to ensure that consumers get a fair opportunity,” Dutton said on the Sunday agenda.

His position was contradick less than three weeks later by the treasurer of the shadow Angus Taylor, who told a summit last Wednesday that the coalition divest approach would “limit only supermarkets.”

When he was pressured if a coalition government would consider breaking insurance companies, Taylor replied: “No, we have been clear about that.”

On Monday morning, Susan Law supported the position of Angus Taylor.

“We do not propose divestment with respect to insurance companies, and we have made it clear,” he said.

A few hours later, the commercial spokesman for the opposition, Kevin Hogan, told Sky News the disinversion of insurers is an option “we should have in our arsenal.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has accused the coalition of doing policies in the race.

“These characters are inventing it as they advance,” he said in a statement.

“They have had weeks to clarify their history in insurance, but they are still desperately divided.

“After three years in opposition, they still do not have expensive, coherent or credible economic policies.”

According to the Australian Insurance Council, more than 22,000 complaints related to former Cyclone Alfred have been presented since February 28.

Until Tuesday afternoon, 20,665 claims have been presented in Queensland. 1,735 have been housed by residents in Nueva Wales del Sur.