Personal Injury

Workers Compensation

If you have suffered an injury at work you may be entitled to income support, payment of medical expenses and a lump sum claim for any permanent injuries. Receiving proper compensation should be a simple process, but often, it is not and you may begin to feel like you are being questioned at every turn.

The laws relating to these claims changed significantly in 2002 and again in 2012, and ongoing minor changes are made to these laws almost every year.

In 2012 the Government established the Independent Legal Assistance and Review Service (ILARS) to facilitate access to free, independent legal advice for all injured workers.

We understand that if you have lost your ability to earn, especially if you are the primary earner for your family, these are often desperately difficult times. The last thing you need to worry about is running up legal costs on top of everything else.

This service is administered by the Independent Review Office. This agency has a list of approved lawyers to make sure injured workers have access to lawyers who practice regularly in workers compensation matters.

Unless your lawyer is on this list, you will have to pay your own legal fees no matter what the outcome.

More information on the role of WIRO can be accessed <HERE>.

Work Injury Damages / Negligence / Common Law Claims

If you are injured at work and your injury does not just result from your work, but also from failures in your employer’s work practices or systems, you may be able to make a claim for your past and future loss of earnings including loss of superannuation.

Industrial Deafness

If you suffer from problems with your hearing and have ever worked in a noisy environment or around heavy machinery, you may be able to make a claim for hearing aids, and for any permanent hearing loss, even if you have left that employment.

Total and Permanent Disablement / Income Protection

If you have to stop work due to sustaining an injury, illness, or disease, you may be entitled to lodge a total and permanent disablement claim. This claim can be lodged if you are unable to return to work that is within your education, training, or experience.

You may also be able to claim for income protection payments (also known as salary continuance) whilst you are unable to work due to the injuries you have sustained, or the illness or disease you are suffering from. These payments are made until you are able to return to work, or until the end of the benefit period which can be 2 years, 5 years or until age 60, 65 or 70.

Any potential claim you have for total and permanent disablement and income protection (salary continuance) can be lodged through the insurance cover you have attached to your superannuation fund or your personal insurance. 

It should be simple to make a claim against your insurance but there are often many tricks and traps involved than there should be. We can advise and assist you to get the benefits you are entitled to. 

Public Liability / Personal Injury Claims

If you have suffered pain suffering arising from any permanent injuries due to another’s actions, or their failure to take actions in circumstances where they knew (or should have known) that their actions or failure might result in harm to others, you may be able to make a claim for your medical and out of pocket expenses, past and future loss of earnings, and the costs of obtaining care that you require or can no longer provide to others.

Motor Vehicle Accidents

If you have suffered an injury in a motor vehicle accident, you may be entitled to receive income support and payment of your medical expenses even if you were at fault. It is important for you to act quickly though. If the accident occurred on or after 1 December 2017, it is important that you lodge your claim within 28 days of the accident otherwise you may lose some of your entitlements.

Before you can lodge your claim you must report the accident to the police and have your doctor examine you and complete a medical certificate regarding the accident and your injuries. This information must be lodged with your claim form.

You can contact the State Insurance Regulatory Authority to find out who the insurer is and download the claim form to apply for personal injury benefits <HERE>

If you have suffered a significant injury and the accident was not your fault, or you were a passenger, you may also be able to make a claim for lump sum compensation also referred to as "common law damages".

If you still have medical symptoms a few months after the accident, or are still off work, it is a sign that you may continue to suffer losses from your injuries that can be compensated. We can advise you of your entitlements in these types of claims.