What appeared to be Liberal Party staffers have been caught pulling down TasInsure signage from a Launceston shopfront just before Labor fronted the media outside.
A photo obtained by Pulse shows people stripping signs from the empty shopfront on the corner of Elizabeth and St John streets on Thursday morning.
The signs had been in place since the policy was unveiled during the election campaign.
Labor shadow finance minister Luke Edmunds said he believes the timing was no coincidence.
“This morning, Labor advised media that it would hold a press conference outside the Liberals’ TasInsure shopfront in Launceston,” he said.
“An hour later, the Liberals were busted destroying all the evidence of the shopfront being there at all.”
“If the TasInsure shopfront couldn’t withstand one Labor press conference in front of it, how will the policy hold up to proper parliamentary scrutiny?”
Asked about the sign removal, Launceston-based education minister Jo Palmer said she had no idea.
“I wouldn’t have a clue what signage is up where,” Palmer said, rejecting suggestions of any conspiracy around the timing.
Despite the vanishing signs, Palmer defended the policy, calling it a “game-changer” for Tasmanian families struggling with rising premiums.
“Insurance companies made $6 billion profit last year,” she said. “If we can do it better, supporting families and have cheaper premiums, this is a great thing for this state.”
“What I would love is for the opposition to come on board and say, okay, how do we actually make this work? Because that’s what’s in the best interest of the people.”
Palmer couldn’t say when the government would release the business case for the scheme.
TasInsure has faced industry scepticism, with the Insurance Council of Australia warning it “would put significant financial risk onto the public balance sheet”.
“The proposal would transfer risk from a functioning private market onto the public purse, exposing Tasmanians to the cost of recovering from significant extreme weather,” it said.
