The Government has introduced the Insurance Contracts Amendment Bill 2013 into the House of Representatives.

UPDATE 21 March 2013: the Bill has been passed by the House and sent to the Senate.

It is proposed that the regulations under the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Cth) will be amended so that the ETA will apply to permit electronic communication of notices or documents required to be given in writing under the Insurance Contracts Act.

Failure to comply with the duty of utmost good faith will be a breach of the Insurance Contracts Act.

There will be changes reinforcing the duty of disclosure by insureds however on renewal, insurers may choose to seek updates to answers previously provided by insureds, rather than asking specific questions again.

There will also be changes to third party rights: third party beneficiaries will have access to particular rights and obligations currently held by insureds.

Also third parties with damages claims against an insured or third party beneficiary who has died or cannot be found will be able to recover directly against the insurer.