Mrs HULL (1:32 PM) —I applaud the member for Corangamite for his motion today because this issue is of grave concern to all of us, as we have all heard. The related issues are that volunteer and small, not-for-profit groups cannot pay premiums; small business in all its forms cannot pay premiums; providers of essential services in areas such as the health sector cannot pay the premiums; and local government, the deliverer of many services, cannot pay premiums. But in all cases the brunt of this problem is probably being borne most significantly in country areas. Although the metropolitan areas are affected admittedly to a degree, this is a classic country problem because of where we are and the way in which our various community structures operate, in that they are generally volunteer organisations and small businesses. Many organisations in many of our electorates have closed their doors and many more are threatening to close.

This issue threatens the social fabric of country Australia. We have the problem for a variety of reasons, some of which are known and have been espoused: the HIH collapse, September 11 in 2001 and reinsurance cost increases. However, the real reason that has become obvious is that Australians are no longer taking responsibility for their own actions. The member for Gilmore referred to this problem during her speech this afternoon. It also encompasses increasing litigation, law firms advertising and touting for business, a widening interpretation of the principles of negligence, erosion of the concept of personal accountability, and growth in the culture of blame. These are all reasons for the problems that we are currently experiencing. There are various prospective solutions, all to be found around the following principles: that it is a state issue, that the Commonwealth has a limited role in the sense of acting as catalyst to bring the states together, and that the Commonwealth can also prospectively assist through the activities of APRA and the ACCC. In essence, though, the answers appear to all be at state level. Ideally we would have all state jurisdictions adopt a series of principles which would provide the basis of a common approach across all jurisdictions.

In the National Party working group that worked on public liability earlier this year, we identified specific legislative options that the states and territories could now introduce, all of which should apply to claims for personal injuries. Firstly, there would be an exemption from liability for the acts of volunteers and smaller community organisations. I am pleased to see that some of the states are already considering those processes. Next would be the introduction of a threshold, the introduction of a cap and the use of structured settlements to incorporate lump-sum payments and annuity benefits. Various measures to reduce the awards of damages would include the introduction of a discount rate that would be applicable to claims for future loss, the abolition of interest on damages, and a deduction from damages awards reflecting non-refundable gains such as personal insurance policies, superannuation benefits and the like to thereby avoid double-dipping.

The abolition of no-win, no-pay advertising by legal practitioners is an essential to proceed with. Currently we have law firms touting for business through hospital emergency sections—and what has anyone got to lose? The ethos of Australians making their own way has been replaced by Australians needing to make a fast buck whether or not they deserve to make a fast buck. Nobody is trying to eliminate the possibility of those people with real, long-term damages being able to access benefits. However, many of the people who get benefits are certainly not really entitled to them. As I said, we would like to see a deduction from damages awards reflecting non-refundable gains, to avoid that double-dipping.

Again, the abolition of advertising needs to be entrenched in law in order for us to prevent such things as no-win, no-pay arrangements. We need improvements in pre-trial processes to maximise opportunities for settlements, with these to include exchange of expert reports, exchange of summaries of evidence to be called from experts and a compulsory mediation process. All in all, there is much work to be done to ensure that the social fabric of Australian society continues with volunteer organisations being able to deliver much needed services. (Time expired)