Friday, 31 January 2020
Road accident compensation slashed
From Saturday, Canberrans injured in a road accident that is not their fault will have their compensation slashed.
The Motor Accident Injuries Act 2019 takes effect from 1 February 2020, giving Canberrans a new CTP scheme vastly inferior to the old one.
Despite significant efforts by the Liberal Opposition, the Labor government and the ACT Greens managed to push through the legislation last year.
The government claims that the new scheme will be “fairer, faster and more comprehensive”, but that’s really only the case if you are an insurer.
If you’re one of the 90% of injured people that don’t meet the new scheme’s arbitrary injury threshold, you’ll not be properly compensated for the full extent of your injuries.
What’s more, as the government has done its best to prevent you having access to proper legal representation, you’ll have to fight your well-represented insurer on your own.
The ACT Law Society maintained throughout that the process leading to the new scheme was fundamentally flawed. The pilot citizens’ jury did not have access to balanced information and relevant expertise, and were shepherded into a government-preferred option.
In its unseemly rush to implement this ill-considered regime, the government has produced legislation that lacks a number of necessary regulations and guidelines. This simply adds to the shambolic processes underlying this new scheme.
The Law Society and the people of Canberra are left to wonder what the ultimate goal of the scheme is.
Sadly, the losers will be the nearly 90% of under-compensated, un-represented victims of insurer profits.