Marine insurance warranties under Australian law: Lost at sea?

The Marine Insurance Act 1909 (Cth) (AMIA) has governed Australia's marine insurance law for over a century. However, as the global maritime industry evolves, there have been repeated calls for reform.

The AMIA's framework for promissory warranties (which help protect the risk an insured agrees to accept from alteration during the policy period) is of particular concern. It is no longer aligned with modern insurance practice or with other marine jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

A key criticism of the AMIA's warranty regime is the unforgiving remedy that applies for breach of warranty where there is a subsequent claim, even if the breach was not causally relevant. That remedy framework has seen some courts resolve warranty disputes in ways that can be difficult to reconcile with the Act itself and create uncertainty. Such uncertainty, both legally and commercially, could well hinder Australia's role as a market for placing marine