The ACT Government has introduced legislation to set up a no-fault insurance scheme for people who are seriously injured in car accidents in the territory.

It will impose a new $34 levy on compulsory third party insurance premiums to pay for the scheme. Drivers are expected to start paying the levy from about May or June.

The Lifetime Care and Support Scheme (Catastrophic Injuries) Bill 2013, which covers injuries such as spinal cord and brain damage, was introduced into the ACT Legislative Assembly last week by Treasurer Andrew Barr.

The bill is part of the territory’s implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which will launch in the ACT in July and achieve full coverage by July 2016.

The bill brings the ACT in line with other jurisdictions, with no-fault schemes already operating in Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, he said. 

The new ACT legislation falls under the National Injury Insurance Scheme (NIIS) administered by the Department of Treasury, a spokesman for the NDIS told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

As a condition of joining the NDIS, a state or territory must first introduce the NIIS.

“The NIIS requires host jurisdictions to have no-fault schemes in place that apply to motor vehicle injuries, work injuries, medical negligence and public liability. 

The NIIS covers catastrophic injury. “The NDIS covers injuries arising in the NIIS context where the results are less than catastrophic,” the spokesman said.

Introducing the legislation, Mr Barr said that under existing legislation, “only those who are able to prove someone else was at fault have the opportunity to make a claim for long-term care”.

He says a NSW program for injured motorists called NSW Lifetime Care and Support (LTCS) will administer the ACT program.

Services provided by the NSW agency, which had 438 lifetime participants in 2013, include assessment of treatment and care needs, resolution of disputes and case co-ordination.

A spokesman for the LTCS told insuranceNEWS.com.au the NSW service meets treatment and rehabilitation costs, but the NDIS does not.

“Talks between NSW and ACT officials are progressing well and are ongoing, but the details are still being worked out,” he said.

Mr Barr says no-fault schemes are now being recognised as the modern approach to managing the ongoing needs of personal injury victims.