I had lunch with Greg Hirst and Michael Czajka last Monday. We met at Maria's Trattoria on Peel Street near the Queen Vic Market in North Melbourne. Italian food that can't be beat. Only open for lunch and it's best to book. Anyway, we were discussing matter motorcycling so taxing motorcycles & scooters off our roads came up.
In Victoria we have the Transport Accident Commission collecting road taxes and compulsory third party insurance premiums for the government. TAC is a semi-independent corporation with a CTP monopoly. The product is compulsory. To be street legal you have to have TAC CTP and it is not cheap. They don't do no-claim-bonuses or ratings like commercial insurers. They don't do rewards for safe driving/riding.
TAC does do sponsorship of sports and other things. It runs expensive media campaigns and promotes a high-profile corporate image ... it is a monopoly.
My feeling is that TAC should stop spending our money on flash ads and self-promotion and put all that cash into better care for the victims of road trauma, better rehab, better rehab research.
The conversation over spaghetti turned to NSW. There's a different CTP system north of the Murray. It's even more expensive for riders up there and the way the premium is collected is different. It's not a monopoly. As I understand it, private companies sell CTP for the government. These companies get together in some official committee and set upper and lower limits on CTP premiums.
That sounded a lot to me like price fixing which is illegal. There's probably some loophole or the NRMA would have become irritated and done something about it? Wouldn't they? I had a quick look at the ACCC website. http://www.accc.gov.au/ It says "The ACCC promotes competition and fair trade in the market place to benefit consumers, businesses and the community."
I'll be interested to see comments on the CTP and bike tax situation in this country.
Damien Codognotto OAM
Independent Riders' Group
MRA HLM
Melbourne
Look, it is simple. CTP covers me on my bike against the risk that I will injure or kill a third party, not me, not my passenger, while riding my bike. The odds are near as dammit zero, so the premiums are a rort. The risk that a mum in a 4WD will injure or kill me are phenomenally higher. So her premiums go up accordingly, right? Yeah, right. Mutter, mutter...
ReplyDeleteDamien, Here in Tasmania we were once the cheapest ctp premiums but now they seem to be one of the most expensive if not the most expensive in the nation, especially for smaller motorcycles. Over the last few years I have been too busy to do anything about it (Major Family Issue) but have decided to do something about it. I contacted the relevant ministers who replied back that the next ctp review would be in 2013. They also said that they keep in contact with the "Tasmamian Motorcyle Council". I have tried to contact this organisation to no avail. They also said that because of "No Fault" Insurance my premiums would be higher (I don't mind the principles of no fault but they should only affect pay outs NOT the distribution of premiums. Also I am trying to find premiums in other states/territories to make comparisons, Can you help?
ReplyDeleteI plan to keep the "paper" fight up at this stage but it may need some direct action. Can you give more info on your IRG?
Tony from Tasmania
PS. Big congrats on the gong - you deserve it.