Myth: Accident Compensation schemes are wrought with frauds and malingerer.
This statement is unsurprisingly false.
Statistics provided by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission show that in 2011 – 2012 there were more than 3.6 million registered vehicles in Queensland. In that same year, 6,900 claims were made for CTP compensation, not at all a culture.
More importantly, according to Department of Transport classifications known as a “Casualty; Fatality; Severity” which divide severity of the accident from:-
- Hospitalisation;
- Medical treatment;
- Minor treatment,
Only one claim is made for every two casualties which fall in category (1) – (3). Not only does this mean that Queenslanders tend to be by and large genuine claimants, it also suggests that for various reasons, a large portion of victims are not pursuing a claim.
For Workers’ Compensation, according to annual Q-Comp statistic reports in 2012 – 2013, 99,000 claims for statutory benefits were accepted that year. In the same year, around 3,600 common law claims were successfully made and settled on average for $170,000. In the same year 8 cases were prosecuted for fraud.
The data shows that despite the stigma associated with ‘compo’, we are far from seeing a culture of compensation and in reality, there remains a large proportion of the population who are largely unaware of their entitlements.