Insurance Act 1973

With the Finance Minister’s written approval, the Minister may authorise the making of contracts and arrangements by the Commonwealth for the purposes of:

protecting the interests of policyholders and prospective policyholders under insurance policies (issued by general insurers and Lloyd’s underwriters) in ways that are consistent with the continued development of a viable, competitive and innovative insurance industry; or

protecting financial system stability in Australia.

The authorisation must specify the amount (if any) to be credited to the Financial System Stability Special Account, so that the total described in subsection (3) does not exceed by more than $10,000,000,000 the total described in subsection (4).

This ensures that the balance of the special account directly attributable to authorisations under this section cannot exceed $10,000,000,000 at any time.

The total described in this subsection is the total of all the amounts specified under subsection (2) in authorisations made under this section (taking account of any amendments of those authorisations).

The total described in this subsection is the total of all the amounts taken under subsection 80(3) of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 to be debited from the Financial System Stability Special Account for expenditure for the purpose described in paragraph 70G(b) of the Banking Act 1959.

That purpose is making a payment under a contract or arrangement whose making was authorised under this section.

The Minister may amend an authorisation made under this section, but only to change the specification of an amount under subsection (2), within the limit set out in that subsection.

The Minister cannot revoke an authorisation made under this section.

An authorisation or amendment made under this section is a legislative instrument, but section 42 (disallowance) of the Legislation Act 2003 does not apply to the authorisation or amendment.

Part 4 of Chapter 3 (sunsetting) of the Legislation Act 2003 does not apply to the authorisation or amendment: see regulations made for the purposes of paragraph 54(2)(b) of that Act.

The authorisation or amendment commences from the time it is made, despite subsection 12(1) of the Legislation Act 2003.

Subsection 12(2) (retrospective application of legislative instruments) of the Legislation Act 2003 does not apply to the authorisation or amendment.