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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 4 Hansard (21 April) . . Page.. 1077 ..

this without introduction of legislation. For that reason we are not intending to introduce legislation to give people access to the Hepatitis C LookBack Program.

My answer to the supplementary question is as follows:

At this point in time, the details of the compensation scheme have not been fully agreed between the ACT Red Cross Blood Service, the legal firm representing cases in hand and the Department. I understand that explicit details of the compensation scheme are confidential. However, as I have previously indicated, the settlement of claims will be based on the same principles as any legal settlement and will include proof of infection, effects of the disease on the lifestyle and earnings of the individual concerned and most importantly the establishment of a 'forensic link' between the disease and the receipt of transfused blood from a donor who subsequently tested positive to hepatitis C.

The ACT Government component of the Financial Assistance Program will be jointly administered by the Department of Justice and Community Safety and the Department of Health and Community Care. Settlement of claims under the Scheme will be managed in the same manner as 'out of court' settlements are currently managed by the ACT Government Solicitor. Medical evidence will be perused by the Chief Health Officer and agreement to the level of financial settlement offered will be required of the Chief Executive of the Department of Health and Community Care. The Australian Red Cross Blood Service will be the primary 'owner' of the Scheme and will need to agree to each proposed settlement as will the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services.

Settlement schemes are proposed for almost all Australian States. The most advanced of these is South Australia. No other States are at this time providing compensation/financial assistance to the spouse of a deceased person. Any individual who is deceased as a result of hepatitis C is likely to have contracted the virus at least two decades ago and outside of the compensable period.

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). It causes inflammation of the liver and can be transmitted via blood. Chronic infection occurs in the majority of people infected by HCV (70%-85%). Studies to date indicate that the disease has a long lead time, the mean period for onset of symptoms being 13 years following exposure. A small proportion of people with persistent infection develop liver failure and/or hepatocellular carcinoma after two or three decades.

The experience in other states is that approximately 50% of those individuals who have received blood from a unit where the donor subsequently tested positive to Hepatitis C are deceased. The cause of

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