Master Builders Insurance Brokers (MBIB) is a general insurance brokerage owned by Australia’s Master Builders Associations.

We are specialists in construction insurance and provide risk management advice, advocacy and lobbying support to the industry as a whole. We service the broader construction industry and all of its participants.

MBIB has over 15 years of experience transacting Home Warranty Insurance (HWI) across the ACT, NSW, SA, WA, and VIC.

Master Builders Tasmania (MBT) has called for the Tasmanian government to consider the reintroduction of a HWI scheme for several years. While there is acknowledgment of the costs that this will put on industry and the issues that contributed to the failure of the HWI scheme in Tasmania in the past, there is a broad understanding that the absence of an operating HWI scheme does leave consumers exposed to an unacceptable level of risk.

These concerns were validated with the recent failure of two Tasmanian construction businesses leaving dozens of prospective new homeowners exposed to the high costs of finding new builders.

While we commend the Tasmanian government in their fast action to establish a temporary fund to assist affected homeowners, we acknowledge this is not a permanent solution, further reinforcing the case for the reintroduction of HWI in Tasmania.

The following sections of this submission address the specific questions / proposals raised in the consultation paper. As such, specific details on the structure of the scheme under the different proposed models and other commercially sensitive details are not in scope of this submission.

MBIB and MBT would however welcome the opportunity to work closely with government at the appropriate time to address these details.