Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) Subject to this Act, an insured has a duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer before the relevant contract of insurance is entered into.
(2) Whether or not an insured has taken reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation is to be determined with regard to all the relevant circumstances.
(3) Without limiting subsection (2), the following matters may be taken into account in determining whether an insured has taken reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation:
(a) the type of consumer insurance contract in question, and its target market;
(b) explanatory material or publicity produced or authorised by the insurer;
(c) how clear, and how specific, any questions asked by the insurer of the insured were;
(d) how clearly the insurer communicated to the insured the importance of answering those questions and the possible consequences of failing to do so;
(e) whether or not an agent was acting for the insured;
(f) whether the contract was a new contract or was being renewed, extended, varied or reinstated.
(4) Any particular characteristics or circumstances of the insured of which the insurer was aware, or ought reasonably to have been aware, are to be taken into account in determining whether an insured has taken reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation.
(5) The insured is not to be taken to have made a misrepresentation merely because the insured:
(a) failed to answer a question; or
(b) gave an obviously incomplete or irrelevant answer to a question.
(6) To avoid doubt, a misrepresentation made fraudulently is made in breach of the duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation.