SA to introduce new laws targeting ‘predatory’ claim farming
People who profit from pressuring others into making personal injury claims could soon face fines of up to $50,000 in South Australia. The state's attorney-general says "claim farmers" are targeting survivors of child sexual abuse and the new laws are needed to stamp out what he describes as a predatory practice.
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TVTranscript
00:00 Susan has painful memories of growing up in state care in the 1970s.
00:07 The Queensland woman says she was sexually abused while living in an institution.
00:13 I know how isolating it was. I know now how vulnerable I was, how defenceless I was, how I was not supported.
00:25 Decades later, Susan, whose name has been changed, says she received a cold call from a lawyer asking if she wanted to make a compensation claim.
00:35 She agreed, but now feels re-traumatised.
00:39 I probably thought initially that I was prepared for it, but I was not prepared for the enormity of the impact.
00:48 I'm not in a good place. I'm happy to say I'm broken.
00:52 Susan believes she's a victim of claim farming.
00:55 It happens when a survivor of abuse or personal injury is contacted without their permission and persuaded to make a compensation claim.
01:04 Some businesses can profit from selling victims' details to law firms.
01:09 So often people haven't told their story to family and friends, and so a stranger approaching them and saying they know just increases all of those feelings of shame, of fear, of mistrust.
01:21 The practice is already banned in Queensland.
01:24 Now South Australia is considering similar laws that would ban people from passing on details of victims of abuse or personal injury to law firms to gain a profit.
01:35 This would, under our legislation, have a fine of up to $50,000, as well as action being able to be taken against legal practitioners in a disciplinary sense.
01:45 It should be a national legislation to ensure that victims are protected and that those loopholes are not exposed.
01:57 The South Australian Government hopes to introduce its legislation to Parliament later this year.
02:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]