FROM THE MINISTER FOR FINANCE

DATE: Thursday, May 30, 2002


BRACKS GOVERNMENT LEADS THE WAY ON PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE

The Bracks Government will today take a major package of reforms to the meeting of insurance Ministers in Melbourne to help address the current problems in public liability insurance.

Finance Minister John Lenders said he would work with all States, Territories and the Commonwealth to identify uniform, workable solutions to the current problems in public liability insurance.

“We have developed a balanced package of measures and will work with all Governments to ensure the return of affordable and accessible insurance.”

Mr Lenders said the Bracks Government was committed to working with all jurisdictions to finalise a legislative package that included:

· Provision of waivers that will allow people to accept responsibility for their own participation in risky activities eg horse riding and adventure tourism;
· protection of volunteers and ‘Good Samaritans’ from the risk of being sued;
· proper risk management and accreditation frameworks for businesses and organisations;
· enabling substantial amounts of damages to be paid in regular instalments (“structured settlements”) instead of one lump sum;
· improvement of legal procedures surrounding claims to enable quicker, cheaper and less stressful determination in civil liability disputes;
· ensuring that saying “sorry” does not represent an admission of liability; and
· removing the right to claim damages where the injury was suffered through criminal activity or while under the influence of drugs.

“We intend to introduce these measures into the Victorian Parliament in the Spring session,” Mr Lenders said.

“The Government, in conjunction with other jurisdictions, will consider the need for additional tort reform measures and their impact on the public liability crisis.”

“We will adopt a collaborative approach with other jurisdictions to ensure legislative consistency where appropriate.”

Mr Lenders said the Bracks Government had adopted a two-pronged approach to dealing with the crisis in public liability insurance.

“The first involves working with relevant organisations to develop risk mitigation strategies and group pooling insurance products.”

“The second includes the raft of legislative reforms that we are announcing today.”

Mr Lenders said the Government had already acted promptly to assist groups who had been severely disadvantaged by the lack of public liability insurance. This included:

· the establishment of an insurance scheme to assist up to 12,000 community groups, in conjunction with the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), Our Community Pty Ltd and Jardine Lloyd Thompson;
· a grant of $330,000 to the MAV for the development of risk mitigation activities that is linked to the community group insurance scheme; and
· a grant of $100,000 to adventure tourism operators to assist them prepare risk management plans and audits.