Page 944 - Week 03 - Thursday, 10 April 2014
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do acknowledge that services provided by family and carers remain an ongoing issue for society more broadly, and it crosses over with other areas of policy, such as the level of Centrelink payments available to a person who is a carer.
In summary, I welcome the introduction of this scheme. It is a significant change to ACT law and one that I am convinced will bring life-changing benefits to people and families who suffer the tragedy of a catastrophic injury from a motor vehicle accident. I note that the scheme has an in-built review mechanism for five years. I would ask that, given the size of the change and that this is a new scheme, the minister consider providing a report to the Assembly sooner than that on how the scheme has operated and any areas for potential change. Recognising that there may be low numbers of people going into this scheme, I do not want to put a definitive time frame on that, but I think it would be useful for the Assembly to receive an update sooner than the five-year review time frame so that we may be informed of how the scheme is practically operating on the ground.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella) (11.45): The Lifetime Care and Support (Catastrophic Injuries) Bill 2014 is a fundamental reform to the territory’s statutory indemnity insurance arrangements by this government. With the passing of this bill, the territory will effectively have two complementary, but not overlapping, statutory insurance schemes for motor vehicle accident injuries rather than just the existing single compulsory third-party insurance scheme. The bill will establish a lifetime care and support scheme that will meet the ACT’s commitment to introduce a national injury insurance scheme by 1 July 2014 for those catastrophically injured in a motor vehicle accident.
Specifically, the bill will implement a statutory indemnity insurance scheme to respond to the treatment and care needs of persons catastrophically injured in a motor vehicle accident in the ACT on a no-fault basis. The scheme will respond to the reasonable and necessary treatment and care needs of participants in the scheme. It will enhance the current motor accident compensation environment by providing coverage for these injuries on a no-fault basis. This means that cover will be extended under the new scheme to those persons who may have been considered to be at fault or to someone who was involved in a single vehicle accident or even a blameless accident.
No-fault schemes are emerging as the best practice approach to dealing with personal injuries as a result of an accident. This is particularly the case for those catastrophically injured whose treatment and care needs will be ongoing for the rest of their life. The scheme will offer interim participation and lifetime participation. Interim participation provides flexibility, allowing the scheme to respond immediately to the early treatment and care needs of those who sustain severe injuries, but where the catastrophic nature of those injuries may take some time to assess or fully develop. The most likely type of injury where this may be the case are persons with brain injuries.
Under the bill, an injured person may be accepted into the scheme as an interim participant for a period of up to two years. With the benefit of immediate access to targeted and specialised treatment pathways that will become available under the
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