On 2 December, 1982, the Workers' Compensation (Amendment) Bill 1982 and four other cognate Bills were presented to Parliament by the then Attorney General, the Honourable F.J. Walker, Q.C., M.P. In March 1983 a request was made by the Honourable D.P. Landa, LL.B., M.L.C. to the New South Wales Law Reform Commission to consider the Bills in the course of its current reference concerning accident compensation.
Pursuant to section 12A(l) of the Law Reform Act, 1967, a Division of the Commission had previously been constituted for the purpose of this reference, and the examination of the Bills was referred to certain of its members. The Division is comprised of the following members:
Chairman
Professor Ronald Sackville
Full-time Commissioner
Mr. J.R.T. Wood, Q.C.
Part-time Commissioners
The Hon. Mr. Justice Andrew Rogers
Ms. Philippa Smith
Mr. H.D. Sperling, Q.C.
This interim report has been prepared by the following members of the Division:
Professor Ronald Sackville
Mr. H.D. Sperling, Q.C.
Mr. J.R.T. Wood, Q.C.
The members of the Division who prepared this report were substantially assisted by preliminary work carried out by the following:
Mr. H.D. Sperling, Q.C.
Mr. Michael Wright, Workers' Compensation Commission
Mr. Dallas Booth, Research Officer, Department of the Attorney General and of Justice
We are grateful to the Chairman and Registrar of the Workers' Compensation Commission for making the services of Mr. Michael Wright available to us for this purpose. We acknowledge the substantial assistance provided by each of Mr. Wright and Mr. Booth. Mr. Ian Ramsay, Legal Officer, New South Wales Law Reform Commission, also made a very valuable contribution to the preparation of this report.
For reasons mentioned in the interim report, it has not been possible to consider all of the questions raised by the Bills, or involved in the reform of the law concerning workers' compensation. By necessity, the scope of the report is limited. However, where possible we have formulated recommendations in relation to the proposed legislation. In those areas where the available information does not permit us to reach any firm conclusion on the issues raised, or where the question is beyond the scope of an interim inquiry, we have stated this to be the case and have refrained from formulating any recommendation.
It is intended that this interim report be provided to the Attorney General in response to his request for advice on the Bills. It is not our intention formally to publish this report as part of our permanent series of issues papers, working papers, or reports.
