Wisely, he did not quite claim it would offer cheaper premiums than existing companies. Christchurch had an insurance company that did that. AMI had come to dominate the local market by undercutting competitors and the earthquake exposed its inability to meet all of its liabilities.
The AMI experience is salutary for national taxpayers, too, when they hear Labour's assurance that its company would not carry a government guarantee. The present Government quickly came to the relief of AMI's policy holders, taking over the worst liabilities and selling AMI as a going concern to the multinational IAG. It is hard to imagine a Labour Government acting any differently if a state-owned insurer fell into the same trouble.
Insurance is almost the last business that should be nationalised. Its purpose is to share risk internationally. Labour's company, like KiwiBank, might appeal to those who dislike profit-seeking private enterprise and prefer to deal with a state agency, but they will be under-written by a global insurance network of private enterprise. The profits of insurance provide security for all its subscribers.
The illusion of a "home-grown alternative", as Mr Cunliffe calls it, has a powerful commercial appeal.
Members of the Insurance Council do not relish competing with a new state company for that reason. Taxpayers should be wary too. When a political party goes into business for no reason better than ideological satisfaction, it is likely to create a commercial lemon requiring ever more capital to survive. Let us hope this is one we will never see.
Debate on this article is now closed.
