Tasmania reshapes TasInsure plan, shifting from state-owned insurer to oversight authority
A major policy pivot after a flagship election pledge
The Tasmanian government has confirmed it will not proceed with its election promise to establish a state-owned insurance company that would compete directly with private insurers to sell home, contents and small business cover. Instead, it plans to create TasInsure as a not-for-profit statutory authority with a mandate to “oversee and support the insurance ecosystem” and to focus on lowering the cost of insurance.
The change represents a significant shift from what was presented during the 2025 state election campaign, when TasInsure was promoted by the Liberals as a key policy response to rising premiums and gaps in coverage. At the time, Premier Jeremy Rockliff argued the insurance market had “failed Tasmanians” and said TasInsure would offer affordable insurance for households, small businesses, community groups and events, as well as regional insurance.
During the campaign, the government repeatedly promised the policy would deliver savings of $250 a year for families and a 20 per cent reduction for small businesses. Earlier TasInsure messaging also described the initiative as a new company that “will offer affordable, reliable insurance products for families, small businesses, and Tasmanian communities”. Draft legislation referenced the provision of “general insurance” through the proposed state-owned company model.
That model is now off the table. The government says TasInsure will instead partner with insurers, brokers, reinsurers and other parts of the insurance system to address “gaps in availability and affordability”, while also developing advisory, transparency and comparison functions intended to promote competition.
What the government is proposing now
Under the revised approach, TasInsure is intended to be established through legislation as a statutory authority rather than an insurer issuing policies in competition with the market. The government has released an implementation plan setting out how the body would be created and the sequence of proposed actions.
Speaking publicly about the change, Premier Rockliff said he did not view the decision as a broken promise, arguing the government could “better our commitments” by pursuing this path. The government’s statement describes TasInsure’s “primary focus” as lowering the cost of insurance, with a practical emphasis on working across the insurance system rather than replacing it with a state-run provider.
The implementation plan also indicates the government is “finalising TasInsure’s initial market interventions to support hard-to-insure activities and risks”. Alongside those interventions, TasInsure is expected to develop functions that increase transparency and enable comparison, with the stated goal of promoting competition.
A phased rollout through to 2028
The implementation plan sets out a three-phase process for standing up TasInsure. According to the plan, the intention is to deliver early action that provides practical benefits “from the outset”, with later phases introducing more complex initiatives that interact more directly with the market.
In the coming year, the plan indicates TasInsure will begin with advisory services for community groups and work to assist hard-to-insure activities to obtain insurance through a structure that is yet to be determined. The plan points to a longer development pathway, with the third phase expected to be complete in 2028.
The phased approach reflects concerns identified during the development of the framework, including questions about the risks and costs of a state-owned insurer model and the challenges of responding to disasters.
Phase 1 (beginning in the coming year): advisory services for community groups and assistance for hard-to-insure activities to gain access to insurance under an as-yet-undetermined structure.
Phase 2: later initiatives that expand TasInsure’s role, building on early interventions and introducing additional market-facing functions.
Phase 3 (targeted for completion in 2028): the most complex initiatives, described as more market-facing, implemented after earlier groundwork is in place.
Why the state-owned insurer model was reconsidered
The government’s implementation plan notes that a number of concerns were raised about the original concept of Tasmania starting a state-owned insurance company. Those concerns included potential risk to the state budget, the state’s ability to respond to a disaster if it were also underwriting insurance liabilities, and the potential impacts on the private market.
These issues go to the heart of the trade-off between direct government participation as an insurer and a model that seeks to influence outcomes through coordination, targeted interventions and market mechanisms. While the election pitch focused on delivering cheaper policies through a state-owned provider, the revised plan suggests the government now sees a different pathway as more workable.
The expert framework and a focus on pools, advice and comparison
As part of developing the TasInsure framework, the state government engaged industry expert John Trowbridge. In a report to government released alongside the new direction, he was dismissive of Tasmania starting a state-owned insurance company. His report instead made recommendations aimed at upgrading the “competitiveness, affordability and availability of insurance”.
Among the recommendations was a TasInsure-operated reinsurance pool that insurers would use to reinsure Tasmanian weather events. The report described the purpose of such a pool as protecting Tasmanian property owners from losses arising from major weather events—principally bushfires and floods—in substitution for current insurer protections. It also argued the pool could insulate Tasmanians from contributing to the funding of weather events in other parts of Australia, while warning the arrangement would need to be “designed with great care”.
The report also recommended a “designated risk pool” targeted at operators in sectors that can struggle to obtain affordable cover, including tourism, outdoor recreation, live entertainment and hospitality, as well as community associations. In addition, it recommended the establishment of insurance advisory services and comparison services—functions that align with the government’s updated description of TasInsure as a body that supports the broader ecosystem rather than acting as a conventional insurer.
Reinsurance pool concept: a TasInsure-operated pool for weather events in Tasmania, focused on major events such as bushfires and floods, intended to replace current insurer protections for those events and to be designed carefully.
Designated risk pool concept: a pool aimed at hard-to-insure sectors including tourism, outdoor recreation, live entertainment and hospitality, along with community associations.
Support functions: advisory services and comparison services, intended to improve access to information and support better market outcomes.
Industry reaction: support for the new direction
The revised plan has been welcomed by some in the insurance sector. RACT chief executive Mark Mugnaioni described the implementation plan as “a positive step towards improving insurance affordability”. Under the original election proposal, TasInsure would have become a major competitor to RACT, Tasmania’s major state-based insurance agency.
Both RACT and the national body representing insurers had criticised the earlier TasInsure policy, describing it as the wrong solution to rising insurance costs. The shift away from a state-owned insurer model toward a statutory authority that works with insurers, brokers and reinsurers aligns more closely with the approach those organisations had argued for.
Separately, analysis by LateralEconomics—commissioned by the industry—concluded that a state-owned insurer model would be “costly and risky for the state government” and would lose up to $13 million annually. While that analysis was not presented as government policy, it formed part of the broader debate about the feasibility and financial implications of the original election promise.
Political fallout and criticism from opponents
The policy reversal has prompted sharp criticism from opposition parties. Labor’s shadow treasurer, Dean Winter, said the Premier knew “the day he announced TasInsure that he could never deliver it”. He also criticised the government’s earlier messaging about modelling and savings, arguing that Tasmanians were promised $250 off their insurance but would instead see costs continue to rise.
Mr Winter said TasInsure had been sold as cost-of-living relief but had now been “watered down into another bureaucracy”, with “no savings, no cheaper policy, and no explanation of how Tasmanians will be better off”.
The Greens also attacked the change, describing the original flagship election policy as a “cruel hoax” and arguing that the plan had been “debunked and dismissed” by the government’s own review, forcing a complete change in approach. The party said it would take time to go through the new TasInsure policy.
From campaign branding to a new institutional design
The TasInsure concept was highly visible during the election campaign, including branding placed on an office. That branding was later taken down several months after the election, a detail that has taken on added significance now that the government has moved away from the state-owned insurer model the branding originally promoted.
The revised proposal also changes what TasInsure is meant to be in practical terms. Rather than a new insurer selling policies for home, contents and small business cover, TasInsure is now framed as an institution that will coordinate interventions, provide advice, and develop tools that support transparency and comparison across the market.
In that sense, the government’s new plan shifts the debate from whether the state should underwrite insurance risk directly to how the state can influence affordability and availability through targeted mechanisms—particularly for hard-to-insure activities and for weather-related risks—while operating alongside existing insurers.
What to watch as legislation and details develop
While the government has released an implementation plan and confirmed TasInsure will be established through legislation, key design details remain to be settled. The plan indicates that some early interventions—particularly those aimed at helping hard-to-insure activities gain insurance—will proceed under a structure that has not yet been determined.
The longer-term elements, including the more complex market-facing initiatives and any pool-based mechanisms recommended in the expert report, will depend on how TasInsure’s powers, governance and operating model are ultimately set out in law. The government’s plan also signals an intent to develop transparency and comparison functions, which suggests a role for TasInsure in helping consumers and organisations better understand pricing and availability, and in supporting competition.
For Tasmanians, the central question is how effectively the new statutory authority model can deliver on the government’s stated “primary focus” of lowering insurance costs—particularly after an election campaign in which TasInsure was presented as a direct provider of cheaper policies. The government argues the revised design can better meet its commitments; opponents argue it represents a retreat from a clear promise. The next stages—legislation, early interventions and the progression through the three phases to 2028—will determine how the new TasInsure model operates in practice.