Page 1544 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 14 May 2019
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MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (11.05): The opposition will be supporting the government’s amendment.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (11.05): The Greens will be also.
Amendment agreed to.
Clause 50, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 51 agreed to.
Clause 52.
MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (11.06), by leave: I move amendments Nos 5 to 9 circulated in my name together [see schedule 1 at page 1633]. These amendments are particularly important in trying to get a better deal for Canberra’s motorists. These amendments are consequential to changing the WPI threshold to five per cent. The current scheme allows individuals with all levels of injury to access just compensation and does not have restrictions on combining different types of injuries. This is a fundamental principle of our current system that the government is seeking to erode.
The opposition believes the current threshold of 10 per cent of WPI is too high and will unfairly restrict the scheme, meaning many people will be denied access to common-law avenues and therefore equitable compensation. Halving the threshold to five per cent will help to ensure that minor injuries are not tied up in the courts, but it means that people with legitimate claims can still access the care and support and compensation that they obviously need.
I urge the Greens in particular to support these amendments. It is absolutely essential that we open up the scheme to far more people than would be eligible if the threshold was to remain at 10 per cent, and therefore amendments Nos 5 through to 9 need to be supported.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (11.08): This is the first of a series of amendments proposed by the Liberal Party—I think there are 19 of them—that would change the whole person impairment threshold for accessing common law from 10 per cent to five per cent. So that we do not spend more than a day on this, I will put the Greens’ position on the five to 10 per cent at this point in time and I will not bother repeating it for all the 19 amendments.
Fundamentally, we do not agree with changing the WPI threshold from 10 per cent to five per cent. Yes, this is something that is done on balance, and this is the reason why we are sticking with where it is. We are trying to produce a scheme here which balances a lot of different things, and the 10 per cent at this stage appears to be the correct place for the balance.
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