Attwood Marshall Lawyers welcomes the decision of the QLD Labor Government and the LNP to REJECT the “appalling and self-serving” calls of RACQ and Suncorp to supposedly “overhaul” Queensland’s CTP compensation scheme.
Major insurers, RACQ and Suncorp, have made repeated attempts to convince the QLD government to ‘overhaul’ the most efficient CTP scheme in Australia to the extreme detriment of injured Queenslanders and their families. We all pay an insurance premium with our vehicle registration which covers people injured by another driver’s negligence. There are already significant caps on the amounts of compensation payable for injured claimants and this has led to QLD having the most financially viable scheme in the country. The insurance companies have been lobbying for a change to a ‘no fault’ system which would seriously affect the compensation to injured Queenslanders through no fault of their own. The only winners under this arrangement would be the insurance companies!
Fortunately, Labor and the LNP have just knocked their cruel and shameful efforts on the head! Well done to the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) and the Save OUR CTP Coalition!
In recent months, RACQ and Suncorp have made shocking attempts to convince QLD to change its exceptional CTP scheme to the much maligned “no-fault” CTP scheme of NSW – despite being fully aware that NSW’s CTP scheme is almost certainly the worst in the country.
Unlike most law firms, Attwood Marshall Lawyers works on both sides of the QLD-NSW border, with specialist compensation lawyers who are experts in both QLD and NSW law. We are all too familiar with the many differences between the CTP schemes in QLD and NSW because we see it every day with clients injured on the road in both States.
Like our injured clients, our lawyers often bemoan the poor, miserly and inefficient NSW CTP compensation scheme. Every few years when the NSW government brings in new changes to the NSW scheme (regardless of which party is in power), it only gets worse and worse for every day citizens and their families. Insurers, however, see record profits.
In our opinion, the current NSW CTP scheme is the worst it has ever been.
To be clear:
- Those injured in NSW car or motor vehicle accidents are far worse off than those in QLD.
- Injured people in NSW usually receive much less in compensation than their QLD counterparts – and this is after being forced through a slow, frustrating, costly and inept NSW compensation system. By way of contrast, QLD has the best scheme in Australia – for injured people and motorists alike.
- Despite receiving much less in insurance claims, NSW motorists are forced to pay more for their CTP premiums. It makes no sense.
- Compared to the efficient QLD scheme, the NSW scheme is slow, obstructionist, protracted, miserly, costly and inefficient. The NSW scheme is fraught with severe restrictions, onerous thresholds, and unreasonable barriers for injured people to access justice, benefits or compensation. It truly is appalling.
- Attwood Marshall Lawyers has hundreds of clients who have been injured in motor accidents on either side of the border. We know that injured people who go through the NSW CTP system complain bitterly about the difficult, miserly scheme compared to their QLD counterparts.
- The obvious purpose behind RACQ and Suncorp’s disgraceful calls for QLD to overhaul the most efficient scheme in Australia and replace it with the problematic, stingy NSW scheme is simple – to make super-profitable insurers like RACQ and Suncorp even more profitable!
- The current QLD CTP scheme should be revered for what it is: the fairest, most successful motor vehicle compensation scheme – and not one to be abused or tinkered with at the behest of CTP insurers for the purpose of increasing insurer profits.
Attwood Marshall Lawyers’ work with Australian Lawyers Alliance to protect Queenslanders
Working with the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA), Attwood Marshall Lawyers strongly opposed any departure by QLD from its current CTP system so that we can protect anyone injured on our roads. Cyclists, motorcyclists, drivers, road users, unions, allied health professionals, community groups, lawyers, and other industry participants joined together to launch a state-wide campaign to save Queensland’s CTP scheme.
The ALA has undertaken sterling work in its “Save OUR CTP campaign”.
We are pleased to announce that the Save Our CTP campaign was a huge success and has resulted in both the Labor and LNP parties rejecting the appalling calls by Suncorp and RACQ to dismantle the Scheme. The ALA and the Save Our CTP Coalition secured commitments from both parties to protect QLD’s scheme.
As Suncorp and RACQ are well aware, Queensland has the best CTP scheme in Australia and all Queenslanders should be concerned about the recent attempts by RACQ and Suncorp to overhaul the scheme.
For now, Queenslanders and their families remain protected.
To read the media statement released by The Save Our CTP Coalition, click here.
QLD’s CTP Scheme
All motor vehicles must have CTP insurance cover before driving on Queensland roads. As long as your vehicle is registered, CTP insurance will cover you for any injuries caused to other road users if you are at fault in a motor vehicle accident.
Queensland operates a common law ‘fault’ based Compulsory Third Party (CTP) scheme. The scheme provides motor vehicle owners, drivers, passengers and other insured persons with an insurance policy that covers their unlimited liability for personal injury caused by, through or in connection with the use of the insured motor vehicle in incidents to which the Motor Accident Insurance Act 1994 (MAI Act) applies.
For the injured third party, it provides access to common law rights, where they can seek compensation from the person ‘at fault’ for the personal injury and other related losses.
As a fault based scheme it requires proof of liability, meaning the injured party must be able to establish negligence against an owner or driver of a motor vehicle.
The Queensland scheme is governed by the MAI Act and underwritten by private licensed insurers who accept applications for insurance and manage claims on behalf of their policyholders.
The Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC) regulates and monitors the scheme. The Nominal Defendant determines liability for and manages claims by injured persons where the ‘at fault’ vehicle is uninsured or unidentified.
