NSW Chief Justice Jim Spigelman has made his strongest attack yet on public liability law reforms saying they’ve “gone too far” and suggesting they will be wound back.

Speaking at a Commonwealth law conference in London last week, Justice Spigelman said the changes to public liability laws, where damages payouts for compensation claims were capped, were “not disciplined”.

He says state governments are likely to ease the restrictions on people’s ability to sue, warning “the speed, some would say haste, with which the changes were introduced in Australia was such that there are substantial pressures emerging for some changes to be reversed”.

“There are straws in the wind which would indicate that some reversal of the statutory intervention is likely.”

The number of civil litigation cases in Australia has declined by 43,000 in the past three years.

Justice Spigelman says there is now a “flow of judgements” interpreting the new legislation, and these include “critical comment by judges about the anomalies and the injustices arising from the application of the statutes”.

“Legal practitioners and their representative organisations have emphasised that many people with serious injuries are no longer able to receive any or adequate compensation.” 

He says insurers “have responded by highlighting the self-interest that some legal practitioners have in these observations. There is a distinct element of pots calling kettles black and vice versa in all of this.”

Insurance Council of Australia spokesman Rod Frail told Sunrise Exchange News Justice Spigelman’s opinion is just that. “The Chief Justice is entitled to take part in the debate, but we believe it’s far too early to judge the impact of reforms.”

The impact of the reforms is being “closely monitored” by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, which is collecting vast amounts of information for its national claims database.

“The reforms are having a positive impact, with premiums coming down and cover available more widely,” Mr Frail said.