Page 773 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 19 March 2019
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from Suncorp and AIG insurance; healthcare consumer advocates; ACT government justice and road safety and insurance policy advisers; an experienced actuary; and an expert scheme designer. This group spent dozens of hours in deliberations to support the development of potential models to meet the jury’s priorities for a new scheme.
Today we thank the members of the jury and the stakeholder reference group for giving their time, their energy and their commitment to the task. The government has been particularly impressed by the seriousness and dedication with which the members of the jury engaged on the principles of accident injury insurance, how we can best protect Canberrans on our roads, and how people can be supported most effectively to get back on their feet after an accident. This was a big job, and every member of the jury went above and beyond in doing it.
When we asked the jury to identify ways our CTP scheme could be reformed to better protect Canberrans, we also committed to taking their recommendations forward to this Assembly. Last year we released an exposure draft of the bill for consultation with stakeholders and the wider community. That bill has been scrutinised by the Assembly’s justice and community safety committee.
The exposure draft of the bill closely followed the model chosen by the citizens jury as best meeting their objectives for a fair and supportive motor accident insurance scheme. The bill that I table today has been updated with a series of amendments to address concerns and implementation issues that have been raised with us by the community and stakeholders, both directly and through the JACS inquiry.
These amendments remain consistent with the objectives identified by the citizens jury but further strengthen the new scheme in some important ways. The details of those amendments are stepped out in the government response to the JACS committee’s report, which I tabled along with the bill. The government has accepted all of the recommendations in the committee’s majority report and noted those from the chair’s minority report.
The most significant of the amendments is preserving the ability to sue at common law for people who do not meet the 10 per cent whole person impairment threshold but have another compelling reason for needing to do so. Children who are still receiving treatment and care after four years and six months will be able to make a common law claim for their ongoing needs in recognition of the fact that young people’s injuries can take longer to stabilise and resolve.
Injured workers who do not meet a 10 per cent WPI threshold but who have been unable to retrain or to find new employment after retraining will also maintain the ability to pursue common law damages if an independent medical assessment confirms their incapacity to work. This recognises that injuries can affect people’s long-term work and earning potential differently, particularly for those who work in manual industries and must do hard physical labour every day.
For people who are injured on the road whilst at work, the government’s amendments lengthen the time provided for them to decide whether to pursue a claim for defined
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