Page 4169 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 21 September 2010
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The bill will make the role and functions of the CTP regulator under the new scheme much clearer and formally establish the regulator as a fully functioning, independent arm of the new scheme.
In structural terms, this bill will formally establish the legal status of the CTP regulator as an entity within the Treasury portfolio, similar to the ACT Insurance Authority. The 2008 act set up the crucial foundations for an effective regulatory function. However, it was necessary at that time to vest the function initially in a single position. Now that competition is almost certainly at our doorstep, it is particularly appropriate that a long-term structure be established that reflects an independent regulatory function.
While the Under Treasurer will continue to be responsible for carrying out the CTP regulator’s functions and powers, the CTP regulator will now be formally established as a territory authority subject to the provisions of the Financial Management Act 1996. In addition, this bill will amend the CTP act by setting out in detail the functions of the regulator.
These functions are closely based on the common governance provisions found in the corresponding New South Wales and Queensland CTP legislation. In short, these amendments will mean that for the first time the ACT government will be on a comparable footing with both New South Wales and Queensland as the regulator of our CTP scheme. Members will recall that these are the privately underwritten common law schemes on which the ACT’s 2008 reforms were based.
The functions to be given to the CTP regulator are consistent with the objectives the government and the Assembly unanimously supported when we passed the 2008 reforms. They will underpin the ability of the regulator to monitor claims management and the provision and availability of effective rehabilitation and injury management services. They will also give the regulator the power to promote and support measures to reduce the number of motor crashes and improve road safety in cooperation with other jurisdictions.
Specifically, the regulator will be given general functions with respect to the licensing of CTP insurers: ensuring that the obligations of insurers under the CTP act are met; approving premiums filed by CTP insurers that maintain a balance between a fully funded scheme and ensuring premiums are not excessive; monitoring the scheme, in particular, injury management and rehabilitation services and the application of scheme costs; promoting public awareness of the economic, social and personal cost of injuries resulting from a motor crash and the causes of motor crashes; ensuring that the scheme overall is operating as intended; and monitoring the proportion of scheme moneys paid to claimants or applied for their direct benefit, for example, by being directed towards the treatment and rehabilitation of injuries incurred in motor accidents.
In summary, these amendments build upon the existing foundations of transparency and accountability that have been embedded in the new scheme and will play a vital role in ensuring that the government’s commitment to a better value proposition for all ACT motorists will be met.
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