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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2249 ..
MR STANHOPE
(continuing):insurance environment. From that, the insurance market for these activities should be restored. Further, the provisions fairly balance the rights of participants in equine activities with obligations of the providers of equine activities.
The bill provides that there is no liability for an injury to, or the death of, a participant resulting from the inherent risks of equine activities. Inherent risks include the unpredictability of a horse's reaction to sounds, sudden movements, unfamiliar objects, certain hazards such as surface and subsurface conditions, and collision with other horses or objects. The bill provides that there is liability for the provision of equipment or tack that is faulty and causes injury; failing to make reasonable and prudent efforts to determine the ability of the participant to engage safely in the equine activity; committing an act or omission that constitutes wilful or wanton disregard for the safety of the participant, which causes injury; or intentionally injuring the participant.
Those are the details of the bill I introduce today. The bill will go a significant way to completing the range of reforms the ACT government has committed itself to, as our response to issues around the non-availability at a reasonable price of insurance for public liability-and specifically medical indemnity insurance.
We believe this is a package which meets the needs of all those significantly affected by the insurance crisis. It has been specifically designed to address the needs of the medical profession and professionals in the ACT. The ACT government believes it will do that and will do it well. I commend the bill to the house.
Debate (on motion by Mr Stefaniak ) adjourned to the next sitting.
Estimates 2003-2004-Select Committee
Report-government response
MR QUINLAN (Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development Business and Tourism and Minister for Sport, Racing and Gaming) (10.46): For the information of members, I present the following paper:
Estimates 2003-2004-Select Committee-Report-Appropriation Bill 2003-2004 (presented 17 June 2003)-Government response.
I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
Mr Speaker, at the beginning of what will, no doubt, be a long and turgid day for this Assembly, I do not intend to take too long in presenting this report, as I presume it will be debated cognately with the Appropriation Bill 2003-2004. The report is in response to the Estimates Committee report, which was described by its chair as remarkable. I am sorry-I missed the remarkable dimension of it when I looked through it. It is not unlike Estimates Committee reports which have been brought before this place before. Like the curate's egg, it is good in parts.
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