Friday, 8 April 2022

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) today welcomed the appointment by the Federal Government of Catherine Fitzpatrick as Australia’s first Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner.

Catherine has had a distinguished career in government, infrastructure and more recently in banking, where she has led innovative programs to improve the ways in which the financial services sector interacts with customers experiencing vulnerability.

Catherine’s work in this area has led to her appointment to several important advisory committees, including the New South Wales Domestic and Family Violence Corporate Leadership Group, the National Plan Advisory Group, and Chair of the National Women’s Safety Alliance policy and advocacy advisory committee.

The Insurance Council works with consumer advocates and its members on programs run by individual insurers and sector-wide to support customers affected by family and domestic violence.

The 2020 General Insurance Code of Practice includes an obligation that Code participants have a publicly available family violence policy.

The ICA’s recently released election policy platform, Building a More Resilient Australia, calls for a uniform definition of family violence and a requirement that policymakers and regulators consider any implications for survivors of family violence when making new regulation.

The ICA and the insurance sector look forward to working with Catherine in her new role.

Comment attributable to Andrew Hall, CEO Insurance Council of Australia:

Catherine’s appointment demonstrates the leading role the financial services sector has taken to support customers experiencing vulnerability with family and domestic violence.

It is a terrific recognition of Catherine’s deep commitment to and leadership of this critical area of public policy and customer engagement and support, and we look forward to supporting her share this work across the community.