Genetic testing and life insurance: what changes on 8 October 2026

We are Maciej Stanek and Imran Amjad, financial advisers in Deakin. The short answer: from 8 October 2026 a predictive genetic test — yours or a blood relative’s — is off the table in life insurance underwriting. A disease someone has actually developed and been diagnosed with is not. That single distinction is what the whole change turns on.

The change comes from the Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance and Other Measures) Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 8 April 2026 and amends the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

What does the genetic testing ban actually cover?

From 8 October 2026 a life insurer cannot solicit or use protected genetic information when underwriting life insurance. The Act is deliberately broader than the headline suggests on two counts: it covers asking as well as using, and section 33H(6) makes it “immaterial whether the use of protected genetic information about a life insured had any effect on the results of life insurance underwriting”. A result does not have to have counted against you for the ban to bite.

An insurer who requests or recommends that you undergo genetic testing is treated as having solicited protected genetic information, whether or not you go and take the test.

Source: Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance and Other Measures) Act 2026, Schedule 1, ss 33G–33H.

Can a life insurer still ask about my family history?

Partly, and the line the Act draws is finer than most coverage of it suggests. Protected genetic information covers genetic testing undergone by you or a genetic relative — a blood relative — “including the results of such testing”. But the Act specifically excludes “the name of a disease for which the individual (or a genetic relative of the individual) has received a clinical diagnosis, whether or not the clinical diagnosis is based on or informed by genetic testing”.

In practice: “my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at 45” remains a fair question. “My sister tested positive for BRCA1” does not. The diagnosis is usable; the test that predicts risk is not. One refinement, from regulations made on 16 September 2026: a diagnosis made before any signs or symptoms of the disease have appeared stays protected. The Explanatory Statement’s example is a Lynch syndrome diagnosis given before any cancer or other symptoms have appeared. Once signs or symptoms appear, the diagnosis can be used.

The same split applies to you. If you have been clinically diagnosed with a condition that has shown signs or symptoms, the diagnosis is not protected — but your genetic test result stays protected even so.

Source: Act, Schedule 1, s 33F(1)(b) and s 33F(2)(a); Insurance Contracts Regulations 2017, reg 13A(2), inserted by the Insurance Contracts Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance) Regulations 2026, and its Explanatory Statement.

Do I have to tell a life insurer about a genetic test result?

No, and this is the part of the change most worth knowing. From 8 October 2026 the Insurance Contracts Act says the duty of disclosure “does not require the disclosure of protected genetic information”, and that a person “is taken not to have made a misrepresentation … merely because … the person did not disclose protected genetic information”.

That protection applies to cover you take out on or after 8 October 2026, and to changes to existing cover agreed from that date. It does not reach back to what you told an insurer when you took out a policy you already hold.

Source: Act, Schedule 1, items 7 to 9 (inserting ss 20B(5A), 21(3A) and 25A of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984) and item 11.

Who does the genetic testing ban affect?

The genetic testing ban matters most to three groups: people who have delayed a clinically useful genetic test because of the insurance consequence, anyone applying for new or increased individually underwritten life, TPD, trauma or income protection cover on or after 8 October 2026, and — least of all, at first — people whose only cover is the default cover inside their super fund, which is not individually underwritten.

That last group matters more than it looks. Default cover is not underwritten, so a genetic test was never part of that decision. It becomes relevant the moment you apply to increase or add to cover, because that is when underwriting starts.

Source: Explanatory Memorandum, Attachment 1 (Impact Analysis), Appendix B: “In Australia, default insurance provided through a superannuation fund or employer is not individually underwritten.”

What does this mean for PSS and ADF members?

For Commonwealth and Defence scheme members the answer depends on whether your cover is a scheme benefit or an underwritten policy, and the two behave differently here.

PSS death and invalidity benefits are scheme benefits assessed by the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation against the scheme rules, not insurance an underwriter offers you. ADF Cover works the same way. The genetic testing ban governs life insurance underwriting, so it has little to say about a benefit that was never underwritten in the first place.

Where it does bite is the voluntary layer. Contributing PSS members under 60 can apply for Additional Death and Invalidity Cover (ADIC) on top of the scheme benefit, and that cover is underwritten in the ordinary way — a medical questionnaire, an insurer’s assessment — so from 8 October 2026 protected genetic information cannot form part of it. The same applies to any cover applied for through an accumulation super account rather than the scheme itself: wherever there is a questionnaire, the ban reaches it.

If you are unsure which of the two you hold, that is the question worth answering first, and it is the same question that decides most things about your cover. Moneysmart’s guide to insurance through super sets out what default cover typically does and does not do.

Does the ban apply to cover I already hold?

Your existing policy is not rewritten by this Act. Two things are worth knowing beyond that.

First, the ban applies to decisions made on or after 8 October 2026 “whether any information on which the decision is based was obtained, or came into existence, before, on or after the commencement day”. A test result an insurer already holds cannot be used in a decision made after that date.

Second, it reaches existing contracts to the extent a decision relates to a variation — including reinstatement or extension. So the policy you hold is untouched until you ask to change it, and then the ban applies to that decision.

Source: Act, Schedule 1, application provisions, items 4(1) and 4(2).

Do I need to do anything before 8 October 2026?

There is no deadline to meet before 8 October 2026. It is a commencement date, not an expiry — no cover lapses and no application window closes. If you have held off a genetic test because of life insurance, from that date the result cannot be asked for or used when an insurer decides on new cover or a change to your cover. If you have been deferring a look at the cover you already hold, that was never connected to this Act.

Common questions

When does the genetic testing ban start?

It applies to life insurance decisions made on or after 8 October 2026. Section 2 of the Act commences Schedule 1 on “the day after the end of the period of 6 months beginning on the day this Act receives the Royal Assent”. Assent was 8 April 2026.

Can a life insurer still ask about my family history?

Partly. A disease your relative has actually developed and been diagnosed with is not protected, so an insurer can still ask about it. A genetic test your relative has taken is protected, and from 8 October 2026 an insurer cannot ask for it or use it. So “my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at 45” stays in; “my sister tested positive for BRCA1” does not.

Do I have to tell a life insurer about a genetic test result?

No. From 8 October 2026 the Insurance Contracts Act says the duty of disclosure does not require you to disclose protected genetic information, and you are taken not to have made a misrepresentation merely because you did not disclose it. Staying silent about a protected genetic test is not non-disclosure. This applies to cover taken out, or changes agreed, on or after that date.

Does the ban apply to cover I already hold?

Your existing policy is not rewritten. But the ban applies to any decision made on or after 8 October 2026, and that includes a decision about varying, reinstating or extending cover you already hold. So the moment you apply to change that cover, the ban applies to that decision.

Can I still volunteer a genetic test result if it helps me?

Yes, but only on conditions. The Act allows an insurer to use a result you gave knowingly and that was not solicited, where you gave written consent, and where using it does not disadvantage you. It is a narrow exception, not a general right to hand results over.

Does this change the insurance inside my super?

Default cover inside a super fund is not individually underwritten, so genetic results were not part of that decision. The ban matters when underwriting happens: applying for cover individually, or applying to increase or add to cover held inside super.