Bringing in an expert panel to review the law of negligence is the Federal Government’s latest tactic to address the public liability and medical indemnity crises. The panel was one of the measures agreed to at the last federal-state ministerial summit in May and was announced last week as a joint initiative of the two groups.

Assistant Treasurer Helen Coonan named a four-member panel including members of both the medical and legal professions. NSW Supreme Court appeals judge David Ipp will chair the panel.

The other members are Peter Cane, Professor of Law at the Australian National University, Don Sheldon, Chairman of the Council of Practising Specialists, and Ian Macintosh, the Mayor of Bathurst, NSW.

The terms of reference for the panel say the award of damages for personal injury has become “unaffordable and unsustainable”, and that “it is desirable to examine a method for the reform of the common law with the objective of limiting liability and quantum of damages arising from personal injury and death”.

The panel will report on a range of aspects of the law of negligence including common law principles to limit liability arising from personal injury or death, options to limit liability and the amount of awards for damages, and proposals for allowing individuals to assume their own risk.

The panel will also consider options to limit claims of negligence to within three years of an event (ie reducing the statute of limitations) and options for exempting or limiting the liability of not-for-profit organisations.

The panel will report on the terms of reference in stages, with the first report to be presented by the end of August. The remaining terms of reference will be reported by the end of September.

Senator Coonan said the panel will help in a “co-ordinated national approach to the problems currently being faced by insurance policyholders”.