AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

AMENDMENT OF THE WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION REGULATIONS

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

No. 6 of 1969

Under the Workmen’s Compensation Ordinance 1951–1969, the Minister may appoint legally qualified medical practitioners to be medical referees in circumstances where parties cannot agree on the medical condition of an injured person.  The Minister may also make Regulations relating to the fees that may be paid to such referees.

The existing Regulations prescribe a fee of $4.20 to be paid to medical referees for a first examination and $2.10 for any subsequent examination.  Such a low scale of fees is nowadays not adequate to enable the employment as medical referees of specialists in any branch of medicine.  Moreover, the fees demanded by specialists vary with the extent of the examination required by an injured employee and the nature of the injury involved.

The Ordinance, therefore, has been amended to provide that medical referees shall be paid such fees as the Minister determines.  Regulation 5, which prescribes the current level of fees, is therefore repealed.

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Minister’s Initials