Key developments
- CTP reforms
- First Review of the Workers Compensation Scheme
- Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Amendment Bill 2016
- Homelessness consultation paper
- Statutory review of NSW ‘one punch’ laws
- NSW Reparations for the Stolen Generations
- Roundtable on rising prison populations
- Insolvency Practice Rules 2016
- Communications in the online court environment
- Powers of attorney reform
- Review of the Guardianship Act 1987
- Real Estate and Property Services Industry Reform Paper
CTP reforms
Insurer Profit in Compulsory Third Party (CTP) Motor Vehicle Insurance
The Injury Compensation Committee provided a joint submission with the NSW Bar Association and the Australian Lawyers Alliance in response to the Government’s discussion paper on reforming insurer profit in CTP motor vehicle insurance. The legal profession strongly supported efforts to rein in excessive insurer profits. Among other things, the submission supported giving enhanced regulatory powers to the State Insurance Regulatory Authority; a cap on insurer acquisition and operating expenses; and a ban on the payment of commission or ‘business support’ payments in respect of any CTP insurance policy. It also strongly supported the introduction of a profit normalisation or ‘clawback’ mechanism to ensure that super profits are returned to the scheme.
Insurer Claims Handling and Dispute Resolution in the CTP Insurance Scheme
The Injury Compensation Committee also provided a joint submission with the NSW Bar Association and the Australian Lawyers Alliance in response to the Government’s discussion paper on claims handling and dispute resolution. The submission noted that the legal profession had already provided several submissions with recommendations as to scheme reform and improvements to the existing dispute resolution system. However the profession would not assist in the modelling of a system that removed the rights of accident victims to independent professional legal advice in favour of ‘claims advocates’.
The models proposed in the discussion paper make various connections to the current NSW workers compensation scheme. The submission noted that this scheme’s dispute resolution system is widely regarded to be in crisis and should not be imported into a reformed CTP scheme.
