Your personal injury claim does the taxpayer a favour

Did you know that your personal injury claim actually helps out the Australian taxpayer?

When you bring your personal injury claim, you are doing the taxpayers of Australia a favour. Injuries from accidents can be devastating.

Typically, an injured person needs to rely on government funded benefits to manage the impact of their injury. For example, they may need to attend their GP or a specialist.  They might need to have scans, tests, or x-rays. The taxpayers, via Medicare, pay for all or part of those medical attendances.

Some people cannot keep working (either temporarily or permanently). The taxpayers, via Centrelink, pay for income benefits to support eligible injured workers.

Sometimes, the income benefits or treatment is paid by WorkCover (which is funded by premiums paid by employers). Benefits or supports are funded through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Injuries cost the government a lot of money

All of this adds up to a lot of taxpayer’s money paid by government authorities to look after our injured population.

However, if the injury is caused by someone else’s negligence, and a common law claim for damages can be made, then the taxpayers can recover some of that money. This is because the law requires the person at fault (or their insurer) to reimburse or refund payments back to the government authorities.

In a practical sense, during the course of a claim, the lawyer will liaise with Medicare, Centrelink, WorkCover, NDIS and other bodies. We find out what compensation or funding was provided for the injured person, since the accident, due to their injury.   Those amounts will then be added into the damages claim. When the claim settles, the insurer must then reimburse or refund the relevant amount back to the government body.

The person who breached the duty of care foots the bill instead of the taxpayer

In short, this means that the insurer (or the person liable for the payout) ultimately foots the bill for these amounts –  instead of the taxpayer. Our terrific welfare system supports the injured person along the way. But the cost of this is ultimately borne by the person or entity who breached their duty of care to the injured person, and caused the loss in the first place.

If the injured person did not have the right to bring a common law claim to get compensation for their loss, then the taxpayers would never be able to recover these “statutory refunds”. This would increase the burden on our welfare system and the government budgets that our taxes pay for.

Bring a personal injury claim, doing it for the country! 

Therefore, by exercising legitimate rights to bring a claim, the injured person is doing the government (and ultimately the taxpayers) a favour. They are enabling money to be tipped back into the coffers of the government. This helps keep our welfare system sustainable and viable for future generations of Australians.

Want to know more?

If you want to learn more or require assistance with a personal injury claim, please do not hesitate to contact our experienced team of personal injury lawyers who can provide you with assistance on a NO-WIN-NO-FEE basis.

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Type of Injury *Type of InjuryWork injuryMotor vehicle accidentPublic liability accidentAviation injurySuperannuation / TPD / Income ProtectionCycling accidentMedical negligenceOther

Occupation *Please SelectEmployedSelf-employedLost job due to injuryUnemployedHome/carer dutiesRetired

Did the accident happen in Queensland? *

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What is the nature of your accident? *Please SelectMotor accidentWorkcoverPublic liability accidentInstitutional abuseOther

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