Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance and Other Measures) Bill 2025; Second Reading

Summary

Life insurance companies will be banned from using genetic test results to decide whether to offer you life insurance or what price to charge you. The ban applies to information from genetic testing, even if you did the test as part of health research. The change amends the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, with the financial regulator ASIC enforcing the rules through criminal offences and civil penalties. This protects people who want genetic testing for health reasons from worrying that their results could be held against them when applying for life insurance, which should encourage more people to get tested and contribute to medical research.

What happens at this stage

The main debate on whether the chamber supports the broad purpose of the bill. Members speak to its overall merits and concerns rather than the fine print. The government outlines its policy intentions; the opposition and crossbench put their case. This is the stage that determines whether the bill proceeds at all.

Next: Consideration in Detail (House) or Committee of the Whole (Senate), where the bill is examined clause by clause