Page 3396 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 17 August 2010
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regarding the application of the state-of-connection tests and provide greater clarity to workers, their employers and the insurance industry as to the home jurisdiction for injured persons.
Separately, in the Treasury portfolio, another two bills will implement the final reform of the ACT’s compulsory third party insurance scheme. One bill will reinforce the operation of provisions already in the law with respect to early intervention, treatment, rehabilitation and return to health for motor crash victims by introducing a robust injury assessment, impairment, determination and dispute resolution regime.
This will further strengthen the government’s commitment to provide better procedural pathways for motor crash victims to receive fair compensation with minimum delay in determining their entitlements. It will at the same time provide greater rigour with respect to how claims procedures relate to the compensation framework in order that participants in the motor crash litigation industry will better understand the expectations the government brings to the conduct of matters involving compulsory statutory insurance.
The other bill will delineate the process and responsibilities of the regulator and make it clear to both the public and insurers that the regulator’s decisions on premiums and scheme administration are separate from the political process that was the case under the pre-2008 scheme. It will establish a mechanism for the CTP regulator to report annually on the compulsory third party scheme in the ACT. This will provide a reporting structure and make scheme statistics for the ACT transparent and accessible by the public.
The review of the Territory Records Act 2002 is to be followed up. The act was one of the first pieces of legislation enacted by the government with the purpose of encouraging open and accountable government by ensuring that territory records were made, managed and, where appropriate, preserved for future generations.
When the government introduced the act, it was decided to include a review clause to ensure that it achieved all that we set out for it to do. Much has been achieved along the way, including establishing rigorous standards for records management that are now utilised by all government agencies and also making the majority of records older than 20 years available for public access. I am particularly proud of the use now being made of these older records by researchers to write the histories of our community and suburbs. Review of the act has been finalised and I tabled its finding and the government response to it on l July. The recommended amendments to the act will be incorporated into the new bill.
Community and road safety have a high government priority. The Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Bill 2010 will support our efforts to protect vulnerable people in the ACT. It fulfils our commitment to establish a centralised background checking system for persons working with vulnerable people in the ACT that was announced in the Canberra plan 2008—towards our second century.
The ACT will be the first jurisdiction to require persons working with children and vulnerable people to be checked for criminal and other offences. Under the system,
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