Page 948 - Week 03 - Thursday, 10 April 2014
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Again, as is normal legislative practice, the guidelines will also set out the more technical and detailed elements of procedures and administrative processes under the scheme that are more suited to guidelines. Examples of such matters are the processes of application to the scheme and dispute resolution. These guidelines will, of course, be publicly available on the ACT legislation register.
The establishment of this scheme will result in a change in the way we respond to the needs of those who are catastrophically injured in a motor vehicle accident. It clearly brings a focus to the timely provision of treatment and care for participants in the scheme. I think it is worth reflecting that that is the priority here: the timely provision of treatment and care for participants in the scheme.
Specifically, part 6 of the bill requires the lifetime care and support scheme to provide for the treatment and care needs of the participant and to pay the expenses of those needs, where expenses are incurred, on an ongoing basis for the rest of the participant’s lifetime. This represents a significant reform to the territory’s current arrangements whereby those with serious injuries seek compensation under a compulsory third-party insurance claim, typically by pursuing common law damages.
If successfully prosecuted, a process which can involve significant time and costs especially in the case of catastrophic injury, the claimant would likely receive lump sum compensation. This bill seeks to change that environment for those most vulnerable, being those catastrophically injured in motor vehicle accidents on our roads. So rather than a single statutory scheme for motor vehicle accidents, we now have two statutory schemes with one dedicated to the provision of the treatment and care needs of those catastrophically injured.
This scheme will offer immediate provision of treatment and care needs to a catastrophically injured person who becomes a participant in the scheme. It significantly—significantly, Madam Deputy Speaker—reduces the stress of litigation on those with catastrophic injuries whose common law damages claims would otherwise have taken many years, as many as eight years or more, to resolve where their circumstances are such that in the meantime they might be relying upon short-term loans with potentially high interest rates.
Further, the scheme to be established under this bill will ensure that the treatment and care of those who are catastrophically injured in a motor accident are met for the lifetime of the person. This is an important point. Participants or their families do not have to worry about whether a lump sum payment will, in fact, cover all of the treatment and care expenses for the rest of the participant’s life, as is the current case.
As I have already stated, under this bill the government is committed to maximising an injured person’s recovery by focusing on their treatment and care needs. This is exactly what the lifetime care and support scheme levy is to cover. So Canberrans who are paying this levy can be assured that the money they will be paying in premiums is being directed towards the reasonable and necessary treatment and care of those catastrophically injured in a motor accident.
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