[SEL] NHMA

[Kerry]

G'Day Curt

You don't have to have insurance in OZ either, not saying that in some
housing estates it may be a requirement by whoever, but I know of no forced
requirement (in NSW anyway) just another example of confusing statements
being made to support their urguments.
I will be told if I am wrong but the only required insurance of any type I
can think of at the moment is 3rd party insurance to register a vehicle.
The $20mil seems the normal limit if you take liability insurance, the legal
system has a lot to answer for, lawers and judges have stuffed the place.


Kerry


----- Original Message ----- > I have been following this thread with great
interest most due to the
> fact that Missy and I will have the opportunity to experience the fences
> first hand in a few months. At the same time I have been very leery of
> commenting on any of this because soon I will be a guest of your country
> and do not want to alienate any Australians before ever setting foot
> there. So I will limit my comments to simply observatory and will
> attempt to not pass judgment on them....yet.
>
> One item that was a real eye opener was the tremendous homeowner
> liability insurance requirement one mentioned. I think I counted the
> zeros right and that was 20 million of personal liability insurance
> required for the homeowner!!! I'd venture to say most American's
> homeowner liability insurance never exceeds the 1 million mark. And
> guess what, liability insurance is NOT a requirement for the homeowner
> here. The fact that Australia requires it is the very definition of a
> monopoly. Here in the states you carry liability insurance to protect
> your personal assets against lawsuit. There is little sense in insuring
> yourself for much more than the value of your personal assets. If you
> feel you do not want the protection of homeowner liability insurance you
> don't have to carry it.
> The fact that your monopolistic insurance carriers have lobbied your
> legislators requiring you carry these huge liability policies, provides
> the very fuel for the litigation lawyers to feed on.
> If everyone in Australia dropped their excessive insurance the
> litigation lawyers would instantly be put out of business. The view from
> this side of the pond is that your insurance companies are on the take
> with the lawyers. The whole mess is a civilized coercion of much money
> from 19 million people to the lucrative benefit of a few lawyers.
>
> Much of the same can be said for the US too. But the sole difference
> being that purchasing insurance is a freedom, not a definitive
> requirement of the government. Many individuals and companies opt to
> self insure, believing that they conduct themselves with enough care &
> responsibility and that they can save money by funding their own
> litigation fund/savings account, that they don't need to purchase
> expensive 3rd party insurance.
>
> Essentially you are submitting to a "liabilty tax" to provide the sole
> income of both the insurance and legal businesses in your country. The
> shearing of the sheep continues.....