By NSW Motorcycle Alliance
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Tuesday, 4th June.

MASSIVE GREENSLIP PRICE HIKES ON CARDS

Information released by the Motor Accidents Authority yesterday reveal the likelihood of potentially crippling increases in Greenslip premiums for NSW road users under the new proposals being championed by embattled Finance Minister, Greg Pearce.
The bill was introduced to Parliament recently despite road user groups being assured it was many months away, and the Government is trying to ram it through quickly, before the public is made aware of the full extent of its contents.

The new information was delivered by the MAA to the two main Motorcyclist representative groups in NSW yesterday in an attempt to allay the fears that are spreading amongst the motorcycling community that they could soon be paying well in excess of $2,000 for their Greenslips. However the figures contained in the letter reveal that the increases could be even more savage than first thought. On the MAA’s own numbers, it costs an average of $221,000 to rehabilitate a motorcyclist after they are involved in a crash with another vehicle, and the MAA expects the changes in the scheme to include at-fault drivers and riders and those in single vehicle crashes to increase the number of motorcycle claims by 1,000 annually.

Christopher Burns of the Motorcycle Council of NSW said “That could result in an increase in payouts to motorcyclists of $221million. 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%.”

Dave Cooke, Manager of the NSW Motorcycle Alliance said today, “The MAA claim in their letter to us that they have had Ernst & Young go over the new proposals and that they can assure us we won’t be paying more for Greenslips, but they refuse 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 they say 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.”

Ironically, after all of Premier O’Farrell’s boasts that he would save us all money by getting the lawyers out of the process, all he’s done is create more profits for the insurance companies, and proposed a system that leaves the drivers and riders of NSW open to attack from predatory insurance companies without the benefit of a lawyer to protect them.
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 NSW Motorcycle Alliance and the MCC of NSW are calling on the Motor Accidents Authority and Finance Minister Greg Pearce to make public the Ernst & Young report into the new scheme proposed by the Bill and to postpone the passage of the Bill while that report is analysed by NSW Road User groups so everyone can determine the true impact. The Minister and the MAA should also tell the people of NSW exactly what the change in Greenslip prices will be for each type of vehicle. If they are not prepared to sign off on a percentage increase or decrease and be held accountable for that prediction, then the new scheme should be scrapped and the current scheme should remain in place until real improvements can be made, not just improvements that satisfy the big insurers’ insatiable appetite for profits from the misery of all NSW road users.
Info;
NSW Motorcycle Alliance – Dave Cooke  1300 937 433  dcooke@motorcyclealliance.com.au
MCC of NSW – Christopher Burns  0418 486 660  cjburns@ihug.com.au