I contribute to debate on the NSW Self Insurance Corporation Amendment (Special Liability Insurance) Bill 2024. The bill seeks to establish a new insurance scheme under the NSW Self Insurance Corporation, or SICorp. The primary purpose is to provide insurance cover to NGOs involved in out-of-home care and youth homelessness services, particularly liabilities related to physical and sexual abuse claims. This all came about following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It became apparent that cases of child sexual abuse potentially could rear their heads 10, 20 or 30 years after the abuse occurred, which is the way trauma works in these cases. As such, the private insurance industry collapsed.

I know that because at the time I was on the board of an organisation that provided out-of-home care services for the New South Wales Government and I had the lucky—or unlucky, depending on how we want to frame it—job of chairing the risk and compliance committee. I had to drive the board and the organisation through what was a stressful and worrying period, where we seriously considered whether or not we would hand these services back to the Government because the risk was so severe and the ability to find insurance, whether short term or temporary, was very difficult. I am glad we did not do that.

That service still continues to this day and looks after some of the most vulnerable people in our community, particularly kids from multicultural backgrounds—which is a specialised service. It is preferable to keep the kids with kin and, if they cannot be kept with kin, then with someone from the same cultural background for obvious reasons. We were lucky enough to find some insurance on the London market. It was very expensive. At that time we either paid a lot of money for insurance, had no insurance or bought what was, effectively, junk insurance. We were lucky to find temporary insurance until the then Liberal Government set up the Short-Term Indemnity Scheme in 2021. I thank members opposite for that.

This is a good example of politics being put aside and both sides coming together to look after the most vulnerable in our community. I thank the Government and the Ministers. When we are outside of this place and we are campaigning, more often than not we jump up and down because we need a new school, road or hospital. But, from our professional experience on boards and in organisations, there are other issues that we want to tackle and solve. I am genuinely proud to be a member of Parliament and a member of a government that, within 18 months of my arrival here, has solved this problem. I still keep in touch with that organisation. I still check to see how things are going and whether the issue is progressing, whether the Government is consulting with the peak body and whether they are happy. I shot an email off to one of the executives yesterday to say, "This is coming. Isn't it great? We are all very happy." It is an honour and a privilege to be part of a government that solves genuine problems which I have experienced at the coalface. I leave my contribution short and to the point. I commend the bill to the House.