Treasury has called for submissions on its draft impact statement on the National Injury Insurance Scheme (NIIS), which may affect compulsory third-party and workers’ compensation premiums in Australia.

The Federal Government is working with states and territories to develop the scheme.

The statement considers the possible impact of changes to motor accident and workers’ compensation schemes in different states and territories, especially in terms of proposed minimum benchmarks for workplace accidents.

Treasury says there is a mix of at-fault and no-fault motor accident insurance schemes, and the draft impact statement “discusses the magnitude of the effects of amending a fault-based scheme to a no-fault scheme, both in terms of the positive impact for catastrophically injured individuals and the potential increase in compulsory third party premiums”.

All eight states and territories have their own workers’ compensation schemes and the Federal Government has three.

“In contrast to some motor vehicle accidents schemes, all existing workers’ compensation schemes already provide coverage on a no-fault basis, which means that all individuals who are catastrophically injured at work are able to access care and support,” the draft statement says.

Allianz GM Corporate Affairs Nicholas Scofield says changes to schemes imposed by the Government could have a retrospective impact on private insurers which already have agreed policies in the system.

Insurers would prefer to see the rules stay mainly as they already are, rather than changes being introduced by the Government, he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

If there is a retrospective impact to pay any gap in lifetime care costs, the gap should be worn by the Government, he says. “Rule changes should not be funded by private insurers.”

Schemes are publicly underwritten in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and SA, where private insurers act as claims agents and retrospective changes would largely not be an issue.

But private insurers play a greater role in the WA, Tasmania, NT and ACT injury schemes, and “the potential impact is far greater”.

Treasury says the purpose of the impact statement is to canvass regulatory options and determine relative costs and benefits.

The NIIS complements the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) by providing lifetime care and support for individuals catastrophically injured in motor vehicle accidents, workplace accidents, medical treatment injury and general accidents which occur in the home or community. 

The closing date for submissions is Sunday April 12. The draft statement can be viewed here.