On 1 April 2026, Australia’s Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance and Other Measures) Bill 2025 passed through the Senate with an expectation it will be enacted in 6 months, providing insurers an opportunity to prepare. It was voted through the Senate without opposition.
This development materially shifts the policy landscape and strengthens the case for New Zealand to proceed with consultation on Subpart 4A without further delay. This issue now sits squarely at the intersection of public health, consumer protection, and New Zealand’s broader transition toward genetic, genomic, and precision-health care. Genomic testing is a health-system tool for prevention, earlier diagnosis, and personalised follow-up, not merely a private source of underwriting information.
Where insurance settings deter testing, the lost benefits are not abstract. They include preventable cancers and cardiac events, delayed rare-disorder diagnoses, slower access to treatment, and reduced participation in clinical research.
AGenDA (Against Genetic Discrimination Aotearoa) has written to New Zealand Ministers, outlining that:
- Australia has now adopted a balanced legislative model, including voluntary disclosure of favourable predictive genetic test results with safeguards against adverse use;
- New Zealand is an outlier, particularly given the close integration of the Australian and New Zealand insurance markets;
- Health-system settings are moving toward genomics and precision health while current insurance settings deter testing; and
- The principal insurer objections remain largely theoretical, while the consumer harm is real and current.
- Enclosed was CALI’s (Council of Australian Life Insurers) response to consultation, which was heavily in support of the ban, with Australian insurers understanding the benefits to the community and in turn the industry and not wanting to stand in the way of genetic testing,
We advised the Ministers we will continue to engage constructively with the Financial Services Council and late last year we presented to the New Zealand Society of Actuaries. AGenDA's Professor Andrew Shelling was interviewed on Nine to Noon last Friday marking Rare Disorders month. While we appreciate those opportunities and they will continue, we remain of the view that these issues should now be tested through a formal government-led consultation process rather than be left to further delay, through industry processes alone.
We have sought reassurance that consultation on Subpart 4A will proceed on a timely and transparent basis, we made known that a consultation document has been prepared and all that is required is initiation. We welcomed either a written response or the opportunity to meet.
With Australia acting (it has taken 10 years), New Zealand has a clear pathway to follow, one that supports better health outcomes, protects consumers, and aligns with the future of precision medicine.
NZFBOC is a member of AGenDA
