Commonwealth Numbered Acts

HEALTH AND OTHER SERVICES (COMPENSATION) ACT 1995 No. 130 of 1995 - SECT 3

3.(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

"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 ;

"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;

"Commission" means the Health Insurance Commission;

"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;

"fixed", in relation to an order or agreement relating to an amount of
compensation, is defined in subsection (4);

"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;

"Managing Director" has the same meaning as in the Health Insurance 
Commission Act 1973 ;

"medicare benefit" means a medicare benefit payable under Part II of the
Health Insurance Act 1973, and includes a provisional payment made in
accordance with a direction under subsection 18(4) of that Act (other than
such a payment in respect of which the Commonwealth has recovered an amount
under subsection 18(6) of that Act);

"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 ;

"nursing home patient" means:

   (a)  an approved nursing home patient within the meaning of the National 
        Health Act 1953 ; or

   (b)  a Repatriation nursing home patient within the meaning of that Act;

"officer of the Commission" means a member of the staff of the Commission
referred to in subsection 28(1) of the Health Insurance Commission Act 1973;

"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);

"Secretary" means the Secretary to the Department of Human Services and
Health;

"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 Territory to which this Act applies. Note: Under the rules
generally applicable to Acts, this Act will apply to all internal Territories
but will not apply to any external Territories except the Territory of
Christmas Island and 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.

(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.