Page 3885 - Week 13 - Thursday, 17 October 1991
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which are irrelevant to the extent of the loss or which have influenced the courts in the past as they have grappled with this principle. The Bill states that it is immaterial whether the housework has been paid for, whether the relatives were to provide voluntary help, and whether the loss included loss of capacity to work for others as well as oneself.
This Bill is about just and reasonable compensation and therefore does not impose an arbitrary formula for the calculation of compensation. It allows the courts to continue to determine a level of compensation reasonable in all the circumstances of each particular case. As in the past, this will often involve an estimation of the cost of employing a houseworker to do the work which the injured claimant is no longer able to do. In the case of Griffiths v. Kerkemeyer, the value of Mr Kerkemeyer's loss was calculated on the basis of what he would have had to pay for nursing care if his family had not provided the help he needed. This Bill is a major and overdue step towards proper recognition of the value of work done in the home.
I now present the explanatory memorandum to this Bill.
Debate (on motion by Mr Stefaniak) adjourned.
COMPENSATION (FATAL INJURIES) (AMENDMENT) BILL 1991
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (10.42): Mr Speaker, I present the Compensation (Fatal Injuries) (Amendment) Bill 1991. I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
This Bill amends the Compensation (Fatal Injuries) Act 1968. In conjunction with the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 1991, which has just been presented, it will give effect to the recommendations of the ACT Community Law Reform Committee in its third and fourth reports, tabled yesterday. This Bill provides for a clearer and greater compensation for funeral expenses and abolishes the defence of contributory negligence in fatal accident cases.
The Bill overcomes a narrow interpretation of the Compensation (Fatal Injuries) Act 1968 to provide a simple and clear rule about what funeral costs the dependants of a negligently killed person may claim. Like the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 1991, it allows a claim for reasonable compensation for funeral expenses, including the cost of a headstone, funeral notice, church service and undertaker. I add that the Government has not adopted the approach adopted in some States of imposing a fixed and arbitrary limit to the amount of compensation for funeral services, in recognition of the fact that in a
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