Page 1661 - Week 05 - Thursday, 5 May 2016
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Since the lifetime care and support fund was commenced in the ACT on 1 July 2014, five people have entered the scheme. These are people that have been catastrophically injured due to motor vehicle accidents and require lifetime care and support. Two participants were pedestrians, two were motorcycle riders, and one was a motor vehicle passenger. Four of the people suffered traumatic brain injury, and one suffered spinal cord injury. Two of the people were less than 10 years old when the accident occurred. These catastrophic injuries are often invisible, and it is worth reflecting on how tragic they can be for the people involved and their families.
The extension of the scheme to cover work injuries stems from heads of agreement on the NDIS which the ACT signed and under which we committed to implementing the NIIS for workers by 1 July 2016. The Productivity Commission recommended that ultimately the NIIS should cover almost all causes of catastrophic injuries, including medical treatment, criminal injury and general accidents occurring within the community or at home.
I understand that this is being introduced in a staged fashion and that there are degrees of difficulties. Motor vehicle accidents are the easiest to cover, followed by workplace injuries. You can see how it becomes more challenging to introduce a scheme that covers all accidents.
There is a strong rationale for migrating the management of workplace injuries from the Workers Compensation Act to the new NIIS. COAG’s regulation impact statement on work injuries points out that the act does not meet the NIIS minimum benchmarks for workers due to common law access and lump sum conversion of treatment and care benefits. The Productivity Commission also found that work cover schemes are not suited to providing coordinated lifetime care and support for catastrophic injuries. The rationale and the intent is to get better treatment, care and support for people who are catastrophically injured.
This lifetime care and support scheme is specifically suited to providing specialised services to people whose injuries are very serious and complex. People who have acquired catastrophic injuries at work will have their care and treatment managed by the same body that is already managing those with motor vehicle injuries. It has expertise, it will ensure consistency and continuity and it is set up to specifically manage this kind of lifelong care. The support does not change when a person returns to work. It continues for as long as the injured worker needs it.
The Law Society has raised a question, as it did with the first lifetime care and support bill, as to why a person cannot opt out of the scheme and instead pursue care and support through regular common law means. I remain satisfied with the approach in this bill and that the NIIS is a better way overall to achieve appropriate outcomes for catastrophically injured people. It is the approach recommended by the Productivity Commission.
The common law right to sue for future care and support needs is replaced with this lifetime care and support scheme. The Productivity Commission report gave several cogent reasons for this. It noted that processes for securing compensation for support
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