Is third party insurance compulsory in Australia?
People searching "is third party insurance compulsory" are usually mixing up two products that share a name. The cover you must have is compulsory third party, or CTP. It pays for injuries to people. The policy many insurers sell as "third party" is third party property damage. It pays for other people's cars and property, and it is not compulsory.
Comprehensive car insurance is not compulsory either, and it does not include CTP. You can hold a comprehensive policy and still be unregistered, and uninsured for injury, if the state's compulsory injury cover has lapsed.
This guide sets out what is required in each state and territory, what each policy leaves out, and when a first car, a young driver or a move interstate needs more than the legal minimum.
The short answer
To register a car for public roads, every state and territory requires a compulsory personal-injury scheme. Most people call it CTP. New South Wales calls the policy a green slip. The ACT calls it Motor Accident Injuries (MAI) insurance. The Northern Territory runs the Motor Accidents Compensation (MAC) scheme. Western Australia calls the charge Motor Injury Insurance.
None of those schemes pays to repair your car, the other driver's car, a fence, or a shopfront. Theft, hail, flood, and fire sit outside them too.
Optional motor insurance sits on top:
Third party property damage covers damage your car causes to other people's vehicles and property. It does not repair your own car after a crash.
Third party fire and theft adds cover for your car if it is stolen or damaged by fire. It still does not cover your crash repairs. Some policies cap what they pay for your car, so read the product disclosure statement (PDS).
Comprehensive covers your car and damage you cause to other people's property, including when you are at fault, and usually theft, fire and weather. The exclusions, excess and insured value are in the PDS, not in the word "comprehensive".
Which optional policy suits a financed car, an old runabout or a daily driver is covered in third party versus comprehensive car insurance.
What each type pays for
Question | CTP, green slip, MAI or MAC | Third party property | Third party fire and theft | Comprehensive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Injuries or death | Yes, under that state's rules | No | No | No |
Other people's cars and property | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Your car after a crash you cause | No | No | No | Yes, if the event is insured |
Theft of, or fire damage to, your car | No | No | Yes, often with a limit | Usually yes |
Required to register the car | Yes | No | No | No |
"Yes" for injuries does not mean every injured person is paid the same way in every state. Fault rules differ, and a serious driving offence can reduce or remove benefits for the driver. Optional policies are contracts. A claim can be refused for drink or drug affected driving, an unlicensed driver, undeclared business or rideshare use, or an exclusion you did not read.
What compulsory cover does, and what it leaves out
The injury scheme exists so a badly hurt person is not left chasing a driver who cannot pay. Benefits can include treatment, rehabilitation, income loss, care, and support for dependants after a death. Passengers, other drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and riders can all be in that group.
Cover follows the registration, not one named driver. A legal driver is generally inside the liability the scheme takes on. That does not mean every driver is paid for their own injuries. In fault-based states, the at-fault driver may get little or nothing unless a catastrophic-injury scheme applies.
The bill CTP never pays is panel damage. If you cause it and you have neither third party property nor comprehensive cover, the invoice is yours.
State by state
Premiums and benefit tests change. Use the agency sites rather than a price copied from a comparison article. This section does not quote premiums.
New South Wales
The green slip is not inside the registration fee. You buy it from a licensed insurer before you register or renew, for the same term as the registration. Most insurers notify Transport for NSW electronically. SIRA regulates the scheme, says six licensed insurers issue green slips, and runs a Green Slip Price Check. Confirm the list on SIRA.
NSW says the policy covers death and personal injury when you, or a driver of your vehicle, is at fault, and that some benefits are available regardless of fault. It is a hybrid scheme, not a pure no-fault one. This draft could not reload SIRA's full benefits page, so do not copy a week count from a secondary article. Trailers and caravans do not need a NSW green slip. Demerit points can change the green slip price. That is separate from your comprehensive premium.
Victoria
The injury charge is inside registration. VicRoads calls it the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) charge. It varies with vehicle type, use and where the car is garaged. The TAC provides personal injury insurance and, as VicRoads states, does not cover property damage. If the charge is not paid, that injury cover is not in place. Sold inside Victoria, registration goes with the car. An interstate sale follows a different VicRoads process. The TAC supports people injured in transport accidents, including at-fault drivers, subject to the Act and to serious-offence rules. It does not repair cars.
Queensland
MAIC says CTP is mandatory and included in the registration fee paid to the Department of Transport and Main Roads. You choose a licensed insurer, and you can change at the next renewal. The scheme is common-law and fault-based. It can pay treatment, rehabilitation, and compensation for people injured by a Queensland-registered vehicle anywhere in Australia where that driver caused or partly caused the crash. It does not cover vehicle or property damage, your injuries if you were totally at fault, or your injuries if nobody was at fault, such as a single-vehicle crash. Partial fault can reduce compensation. Separate lifetime care for some catastrophic injuries sits outside ordinary CTP. Confirm that with MAIC.
South Australia
Compulsory injury insurance is paid with registration, and owners can choose an approved insurer. The regulator's calculator and insurer list are at ctp.sa.gov.au. The scheme page itself did not load during research. CHOICE's guide, updated 15 September 2026, describes SA as fault-based, with a Lifetime Support Scheme for some catastrophic injuries regardless of fault. Check the regulator before you rely on that summary.
Western Australia
You do not choose a CTP brand. Motor Injury Insurance is part of the vehicle licence, through the Insurance Commission of Western Australia. Transport WA says it covers injury and death caused to other people anywhere in Australia by any driver of the vehicle. It does not cover vehicle or property damage, and it does not cover non-catastrophic injuries where no other driver was negligent. Catastrophic injuries from a crash in WA have a wider net, including care for you if no other driver was negligent. Illegal use, including driving unlicensed or under the influence, can leave the owner chased for compensation the Commission has paid.
Tasmania
The Motor Accidents Insurance Board is the only CTP insurer. The premium is part of registration. MAIB pays medical and income benefits on a no-fault basis and still allows common law damages where negligence caused the injury. Benefits it describes include treatment, rehabilitation, long-term care, a disability allowance, and funeral and dependency benefits. MAIB says its premium is the lowest CTP premium in Australia. Limits are on maib.tas.gov.au. Some unregistered vehicles can buy MAIB-only injury cover. That is still not car insurance.
Australian Capital Territory
Since 1 February 2020, the compulsory policy has been Motor Accident Injuries insurance, bought with registration. You choose AAMI, APIA, GIO or NRMA. The wording is identical because it is set in legislation. Price follows vehicle class. Everyone injured in an ACT motor accident can receive treatment, care, and lost-income benefits for up to five years, at fault or not. More serious injuries may also support common law. Property damage is not covered. If you injure someone else interstate and you are at fault, the MAI policy indemnifies you. If you are injured interstate, your own benefits follow the scheme where the crash happened.
Northern Territory
The MAC scheme is no-fault and is funded from registration. The Motor Accident Compensation Commission oversees it, and TIO manages claims. It covers drivers, passengers, pedestrians, riders, and cyclists hurt or killed in the Territory, regardless of fault, with ongoing benefits where care is reasonable and necessary, plus lump sums for death and permanent impairment. Territory residents are also covered interstate if an NT-registered vehicle is involved. That interstate rule is specific to MAC.
Is CTP the same as comprehensive?
No. Comprehensive insurance does not include CTP, a green slip, MAI insurance, or the MAC charge. You need the injury scheme as well as any optional policy, and you need an optional policy if you want cars and property covered.
Comprehensive can repair or replace your car and can meet liability for someone else's property. Theft, fire, storm, hail, and flood are usual, but only when the PDS lists them. Agreed value is fixed at the start of the period. Market value is what the car is worth locally just before the loss.
Third-party property is what people drop because their own car is old. The expensive risk is often the other car or a house. Fire and theft are the middle steps, useful only if the cap is close to the car's value. Optional premium ranges, which are not CTP prices, are how much car insurance costs in Australia.
New drivers, first cars and moving states
A learner or provisional driver in a currently registered car is not uninsured for injury just because they are on P-plates. The policy follows the car. What changes is the optional premium, and in NSW the green slip if there are demerit points. Young-driver pricing is underwriting, not a law that P-platers must buy comprehensive cover. Check the excess for inexperienced drivers, and list anyone who drives the car regularly if the PDS requires it.
On a first car, ask whether the drive-away price includes the injury policy for your state and for how many months. A price before on-road costs leaves out registration, compulsory injury insurance, duty and dealer delivery. There is no single national amount to add. That split is in the average new car price guide. In NSW the green slip is bought separately even when a dealer bundles it into one figure.
If you borrow, ask whether the lender requires comprehensive cover and to be noted on the policy. Many do. That is a loan condition, not a registration rule. Quote insurance before you commit to a variant. A hatch such as the Hyundai i30 or a small electric car such as the BYD Atto 1 can be cheap to buy and less cheap to insure. See cheapest new cars, hidden ownership costs and cheapest cars to run, then browse new cars or used cars.
After a move, register in the new state and pay that state's injury scheme. Deadlines differ, so this article does not quote one. After a crash interstate, use the rule for the plate's state, set out above, and contact the scheme where the crash happened.
When the legal minimum is not enough
CTP covers only the injury claim that scheme allows. It does not pay for another car, a building, your own crash damage, theft, hail or flood, and it does not clear a loan on a written-off car. Third party property is the practical minimum even for a car you would not repair. Comprehensive fits when you cannot replace the car, a lender requires it, or theft and weather matter. A higher excess, or paying yearly instead of monthly, can cut the optional premium. Neither replaces the injury scheme.
Put the insurance quote next to fuel or charging if you are comparing powertrains in petrol versus hybrid versus electric. A near-new used car has already taken the steepest depreciation, which changes whether comprehensive is worth the premium: see new or used in 2026.
Details to confirm before you rely on them
South Australia's fault tests and Lifetime Support Scheme. Use ctp.sa.gov.au. The scheme page did not load here.
How long NSW pays statutory benefits to an at-fault driver. SIRA describes a hybrid scheme. The benefits page did not load in full.
How many days a newcomer has to transfer registration. Each state sets that.
Dollar premiums and fines. Left out on purpose so this article does not invent them.
This is general information, not a quote and not personal financial or legal advice. The PDS, the registration notice, and the state scheme page win if they disagree with this article.