Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
"advance payment" means a payment made under section 33B.
"Australian law" means a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory.
"amount of compensation" , in relation to a judgment or settlement, is defined in subsection (2).
"bulk payment agreement" means an agreement of a kind referred to in subsection 34(1).
"Charges Act" means the Health and Other Services (Compensation) Care Charges Act 1995 .
"Chief Executive Medicare" has the same meaning as in the Human Services (Medicare) Act 1973 .
"claim" means a claim in writing.
"claimant" , in relation to compensation, means the person seeking compensation either on his or her own behalf or on behalf of another person.
"compensable person" means:
(a) an individual who is entitled to receive or has received a compensation payment in respect of an injury; or
(b) if the individual has died--the individual's estate.
"compensation" is defined in section 4.
"compensation authority" means a person appointed, or a body established, by or under Australian law, being a person or body whose functions include determining amounts of compensation payable to persons.
"compensation payer" means:
(a) a person who is liable to make a payment of compensation fixed under a judgment or settlement; or
(b) a person who is liable to make a payment of compensation under a reimbursement arrangement; or
(c) an authority of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory that has decided that it will make a payment by way of compensation to another person, whether or not the authority is liable to make the payment.
"eligible benefit" means:
(a) a medicare benefit; or
(b) a nursing home benefit; or
(c) a residential care subsidy; or
(d) a home care subsidy.
"fixed" , in relation to an order or agreement relating to an amount of compensation, is defined in subsection (4).
"home care" , in relation to a compensable person, has the same meaning as in:
(a) if the Aged Care Act 1997 applies in relation to the person--that Act; and
(b) if the Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 applies in relation to the person--that Act.
"home care subsidy" has the same meaning as in:
(a) in relation to home care under the Aged Care Act 1997 --that Act; and
(b) in relation to home care under the Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 --that Act.
"injury" includes a disease.
"insurer" means a person who is, under a contract of insurance, liable to indemnify a compensation payer, or a person against whom a claim for compensation is made, against liability arising from a claim for compensation, and includes:
(a) an authority of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory that is liable to indemnify a compensation payer, or a person against whom a claim for compensation is made, against such liability, whether the authority is so liable under a contract, a law, or otherwise; or
(b) an authority of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory that decides to make a payment to indemnify a compensation payer, or a person against whom a claim for compensation is made, against such liability, whether or not the authority is liable to do so; or
(c) a representative organisation, in relation to the claim for compensation, that decides to make a payment to indemnify a compensation payer, or a person against whom a claim for compensation is made, against such liability, whether or not the representative organisation is liable to do so.
"judgment" means an order (by whatever name called) by a court or a compensation authority under which an amount of compensation payable is fixed, but does not include a reimbursement arrangement, a consent judgment or an order in the nature of a consent judgment.
Note: Subsection (6) deals with the question of judgments that are subject to appeal.
"law" , in relation to the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory, means a law (whether written or unwritten) of the Commonwealth, that State or that Territory, and includes a law (whether written or unwritten) in force in the Commonwealth, that State or that Territory or in any part of the Commonwealth, that State or that Territory.
"medicare benefit" has the same meaning as in the Health Insurance Act 1973 .
"notifiable person" , in relation to a claim for compensation, means:
(a) if the person against whom the claim is made has entered into a contract or arrangement with an insurer under which amounts of compensation that become payable as a result of the claim are to be paid by the insurer--the insurer; or
(b) if paragraph (a) does not apply but the person against whom the claim is made is a member of a representative organisation that could, in performing its function of making payments in respect of amounts of compensation that its members are liable to pay, make a payment in respect of amounts of compensation that become payable as a result of the claim--the representative organisation; or
(c) otherwise--the person against whom the claim is made.
"nursing home benefit" means an amount payable by the Commonwealth by way of benefit under Part VA of the National Health Act 1953 , and includes a provisional payment made in accordance with a direction under subsection 59(4) of that Act (other than such a payment in respect of which the Commonwealth has recovered an amount under subsection 59(6) of that Act).
"nursing home care" has the same meaning as in the National Health Act 1953 .
"professional service" has the same meaning as in the Health Insurance Act 1973 .
"receive" , in relation to a compensation payment, is defined in subsection (3).
"reimbursement arrangement" means an agreement in writing, an order of a court or compensation authority, or a decision of a person or body, to the effect that the person against whom a claim for compensation is made is liable to pay compensation to reimburse the claimant for expenses as they are incurred by the claimant that:
(a) are incurred in respect of any service or care rendered or provided in the course of treatment of, or as a result of, the claimant's injury; and
(b) are expenses in respect of which an eligible benefit is or may become payable (whether or not the eligible benefit is payable to the claimant).
"representative organisation" , in relation to a claim for compensation, means a body that:
(a) has as one of its members the person against whom the claim for compensation was made (whether the compensation was claimed directly from that person or from the body); and
(b) has as its function, or one of its functions, making payments in respect of amounts of compensation that its members are liable to pay (whether those payments are made to compensable persons, to its members or to other persons); and
(c) had a discretion, at the time the claim for compensation was made, whether to perform the function in respect of that claim by making such a payment (whether or not it subsequently becomes liable, by agreement or otherwise, to make such a payment).
"residential care" , in relation to a compensable person, has the same meaning as in:
(a) if the Aged Care Act 1997 applies in relation to the person--that Act; and
(b) if the Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 applies in relation to the person--that Act.
"residential care subsidy" has the same meaning as in:
(a) in relation to residential care under the Aged Care Act 1997 --the Aged Care Act 1997 ; and
(b) in relation to residential care under the Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 --the Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 .
"Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department.
"settlement" means an agreement under which an amount of compensation that a party to the agreement agrees to pay to another person is fixed, and includes:
(a) an agreement for redemption of an entitlement to compensation by way of periodic payments, being an agreement under which the amount of compensation payable under that redemption is fixed; and
(b) a consent judgment, or an order in the nature of a consent judgment, of a court or compensation authority under which an amount of compensation payable to a person is fixed;
but does not include a reimbursement arrangement.
"small amount" has the meaning given in section 38.
"Territory" means:
(a) an internal Territory; or
(b) Norfolk Island; or
(c) the Territory of Christmas Island; or
(d) the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
(2) A reference in this Act to an amount of compensation in relation to a judgment or settlement is a reference to the sum of all the amounts of compensation that are payable, under the judgment or settlement, to a particular compensable person.
(3) A reference in this Act to a person receiving a compensation payment includes a reference to another person receiving it on behalf of, or at the direction of, the first person.
(4) A reference in this Act to an amount of compensation being fixed under an order or agreement is a reference to the amount being:
(a) specified in the order or agreement, or in the law under which the order or agreement is made or to which the order or agreement relates; or
(b) ascertainable, at the time the order or agreement is made, in accordance with the terms of the order or agreement, or in accordance with a law under which the order or agreement is made or to which the order or agreement relates; or
(c) ascertainable, at some time after the order or agreement is made, in accordance with the terms of the order or agreement, or in accordance with a law under which the order or agreement is made or to which the order or agreement relates.
(4A) An amount of compensation fixed under paragraph 3(4)(c) is fixed at the time at which the amount of compensation is ascertained.
(5) If a claimant is seeking compensation on behalf of another person:
(a) references in this Act to a claimant's name, address and date of birth are taken to be references to the name, address or date of birth of the individual who is claimed to have suffered the injury in question; and
(b) references in this Act to the claimant's injury are taken to be references to the injury in question.
(6) For the purposes of this Act (other than subsection 24(3)), an order is taken not to be a judgment until:
(a) any applicable time limits for lodging an appeal (by whatever name called) against the order have expired; and
(b) if there is such an appeal against the order--the appeal (and any subsequent appeals) have been finally disposed of.
(7) For the purposes of this Act, if a person pays an amount into a court prior to a judgment or settlement being made, the payment does not constitute a payment of compensation until the amount is released, by the court or in accordance with the rules of the court, to another person.
(8) For the avoidance of doubt, if:
(a) a court or compensation authority makes an order fixing an amount of compensation that is payable in respect of a claim for compensation; and
(b) the parties to the proceeding reached agreement on liability in respect of the injury to which the claim for compensation relates; and
(c) the court or compensation authority determined the quantum of damages payable, and the quantum of each head of damage specified in the order, without the agreement of the parties on any such quantum;
the order is not a consent judgment, or an order in the nature of a consent judgment, for the purposes of this Act.
(9) If an injury is a disease, a reference in this Act to the day on which the injury occurs is a reference to the first day on which a professional service was rendered in respect of the disease.
(10) A reference in this Act to the period of a bulk payment agreement is a reference to the period to which the bulk payment agreement is expressed to apply.