Another perspective on FENZ debacle

insuranceNEWS has given an Australian view of the recent proposals to create an new emergency organisation in NZ by merging the rural and urban fire services and taxing insurance policies to pay for it.

This follows a scathing attack by NZ First on the legislation at its second reading recently. The only MP to speak out against the changes, Clayton Mitchell, drew attention to the examples from around the world of failed attempts to merge similar rural and urban services.

He said a Western Australian inquiry reported outcomes that the merged systems have been described as "disjointed and dysfunctional", and, at worst, "dysfunctional and broken".  "It is exactly the same in Greece, Canada and California".

Mitchell also went on to say that the funding model is severely flawed, something both IBANZ and the Insurance Council have been saying for the last 21 years during which 17 reviews of the Fire Service have been carried out.

Now insuranceNEWS has done an analysis of the situation comparing it to the Australian experience and drawing attention to our archaic, inefficient and inequitable levy system of funding by way of a tax on insurance.

A copy of the insuranceNEWS report is available HERE.