Former Tasmanian premier Paul Lennon seeks to sabotage Liberal’s TasInsure – by buying the business name

A former Labor premier has bought the business name of a key Liberal election policy, to expose it as a ‘cruel hoax’ on voters.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff announcing his plan for a government-owned insurance business, TasInsure. Picture: Elise Kaine

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Former Tasmanian premier Paul Lennon has dramatically intervened in the state election campaign, seeking to sabotage the Liberals’ centrepiece policy – a state-owned insurer – by scooping its business name.

Mr Lennon said he was “flabbergasted” by the Liberals’ July 2 election promise to set up a state-owned “TasInsure” to offer cut-price home, business and events insurance.

Suspecting the policy was a “thought bubble” with no substance, Mr Lennon sought the business name, discovering it had not been registered, despite the Liberals setting up a TasInsure “shopfront” and website.

“They didn’t bother to register the business name – the most basic thing to do if you had a serious business proposal,” Mr Lennon told The Australian.

“I know this because on July 7, I registered the business name through my company – to demonstrate that this is a cruel hoax, without question. You can’t make this stuff up.”

He said as the legal owner of the business name, he expected the Liberal Party to cease using it and remove it from all its TasInsure promotional clothing, Launceston “shopfront” and website.

“Clearly, the business registration name is not theirs – it’s owned by my company, so I would expect they would be taking the signs down at the earliest opportunity,” he said.

“If they don’t I’ll look at what other action needs to be taken.”

Former Tasmanian premier Paul Lennon. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Whatever legal problems Mr Lennon’s intervention causes for the Liberals’ key policy, he said his motivation was to expose the plan as a “vote-buying … con” that offered false hope to households and businesses.

“There is no serious proposal for a state-owned Tasmanian insurance company … there is no business case, no actuarial advice and no financial costings,” the former Labor premier said.

He said without these, it was impossible to believe Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s claims the promised body would slash household premiums by $250 a year and small business costs by 20 per cent.

The Liberal policy – a stunning turnaround for a party that weeks earlier confirmed a privatisation agenda – has been welcomed by business groups but savaged by insurers and economists.

Mr Lennon, who was premier and treasurer from 2004 to 2008, questioned the wisdom of creating a government insurer while more than doubling Tasmania’s state debt, to levels on some measures the highest in the nation.

“The debt that Tasmania is being saddled with by the Liberals now is on the brink of being unsustainable for us as a community to service,” he said. “Who’ll cover the costs? The insurance industry has estimated that if we have another disaster event like the 1967 bushfires we can expect a bill of $4bn. Of course, this is going to cost.”

Mr Rockliff did not comment on Thursday, but Liberal minister Felix Ellis accused Mr Lennon of “playing stupid political games”. “TasInsure will provide Tasmanians with cheaper fairer insurance – it will be delivered by a re-elected Liberal government,” Mr Ellis said.

The Liberals argue the new state-owned insurer would use the “strong balance sheet” of the state’s existing Motor Accident Insurance Board, including $2.1bn in assets. However, critics have warned the MAIB has liabilities of $1.5bn and that any reduction in its profitability would reduce dividends to taxpayers and threaten support for the care of accident victims.