[Greens-Media] The truth of a quicker, cheaper and lawyer free CTP scheme

[Mark Riboldi]

The truth of a quicker, cheaper and lawyer free CTP scheme
Media Release - 8 May 2013

The reforms to the Greenslip CTP announced today by the O'Farrell government have been heavily criticised by Greens NSW MP David Shoebridge as sounding appealing on the surface but containing very real nasty surprises.

"Quicker, cheaper and lawyer-free is the promise of the government in its Greenslip CTP reforms, but what this means in practice is no consideration of how the injury impacts on your life, drastically reduced benefits for many of the people injured on our roads and no help from your lawyer when negotiating against a well-heeled insurance company," Mr Shoebridge said.

"All the while it is business as usual for the private insurers gouging super profits from motorists.

"Quicker sounds great, everyone wants their claims processed faster. But what it really means is that the real impact of the injury on people will not be considered.

"The new scheme will mean that only a tiny fraction of those injured on the roads will be fully compensated for their loss. Everyone else who falls below the threshold of greater than 10% whole person impairment will get greatly reduced statutory benefits.

"A quick but inadequate payment that fails to fully compensate you for your loss is drawing the short straw.

"A more efficient scheme could have been delivered by addressing insurance company super profits for instance, but instead the Government has chosen to slash benefits.

"Over the past decade private insurers have gouged more than $2 billion in super profits from the scheme; these are profits in excess of a reasonable 8% return on their investment in the scheme.

"Between excessive profits and administration costs private insurers are taking more than 1 in 3 dollars from the scheme and there is not a single proposal from the government to address this. Every saving is being made by cutting benefits

"Cutting payments received by injured people might save money from the scheme in the short term, but the cost to the person and to the community through increased demand for medical and other services makes this the more expensive option in the long run.

"The removal of the lawyers from the scheme is also a one-sided promise which will mean that those injured on our roads will face insurance companies directly, without proper advice to allow them to make decisions.

"Insurance companies will of course continue to have their legal teams considering the implications of all claims, and advising them accordingly.

"The Government's biggest failure in this reform is not addressing the excessive take by private insurers from the scheme, which would be the most equitable way of ensuring affordable premiums and proper benefits." Mr Shoebridge said.

Media contact: 9230 3030 | 0433 753 376


Mark Riboldi
Communications & Policy
Greens NSW MP David Shoebridge
P: (02) 9230 3030 |Media: 0433 753 376 |T: @ShoebridgeMLC<http://twitter.com/#!/shoebridgemlc>
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