Proposal for COMPULSORY no-fault 3rd-party insurance for Australian private aircraft
A breathtaking proposal was put before the RARAAT committee of Australia's Senate on 2nd March 2001. AOPA proposed that owners of private aircraft should be COMPELLED to hold no-fault third party insurance.No-fault insurance means that the owner of on aircraft is liable to a person injured even if the owner is not in any way at fault.
I priced no-fault insurance for one of my own aircraft a while back, but quickly lost interest when I learned that I would only be able to get one-fifth as much coverage for the same premium. It is one thing to have to compensate a person when you are at fault - but it is quite another thing to have to compensate someone when you are not. See aeronca.htm for an accident report. AOPA claims this accident illustrates why aircraft owners must have compulsory no-fault insurance. I say it shows no such thing. I say it shows a thing or two about parental responsibilities.
One can only speculate about the reason why AOPA did not even inform its members, much less consult them, before taking this very far-reaching step of calling on the Parliament to COMPEL private aircraft owners to do anything - let alone feather the nests of lawyers and insurance companies, which I think this proposal will do.
If you want some light bedtime reading, you can see the Hansard, which includes of AOPA's oral submission to the Senate Committee calling for compulsory no-fault insurance. Click here. I wish I could summarise AOPA's submission briefly, but I cannot. And AOPA did not provide a written submission at all!
THE COMMITTEE's REPORT
Click here to see a copy of the Committee's report on compulsory no-fault 3rd-party insurance as proposed by AOPA. This proposal is now off and running. We're in for a lot of work and a lot of money to stop it. The key recommendation is this -
"Although the issue of compulsory third party insurance for private aircraft operators and pilots is outside the terms of reference of this inquiry the Committee recommends that the Minister refer this proposal to an independent professional consultant for assessment and report."
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