Edition No.76

Welcome

In this edition you can find important information about the rule 67 amendments including the 500-page limit and associated Pathway Portal enhancements, which launched this week on Monday 25 November.

I am pleased to announce some new appointments to our mediator cohort and dual member appointments in the Police Officer Support Scheme Division.

I am delighted to share with you the Commission’s Annual Review for the 2023-24 reporting period, which was tabled in Parliament on Thursday 21 November 2024.

Finally, I provide a note on the Practice Note and Judicial Guidelines issued by the Supreme Court of NSW in response to the challenges posed by the potential use of Generative AI technology, and a reminder about the Commission’s end-of-year shutdown arrangements.

Regards, 

Judge Gerard Phillips
President

Rule 67 amendments including the 500-page limit commenced on 25 November 2024

We are pleased to confirm that the amendments to rule 67 of the Personal Injury Commission Rules 2021 and Procedural Direction PIC 3, a new Procedural Direction PIC 12 and consequential amendments to other Procedural Directions were enacted on Monday 25 November 2024. We thank practitioners for their engagement with these important reforms for the Commission. Over the past six weeks, we were delighted to engage with approximately 600 insurance and legal practitioners in our online briefings on the rule 67 amendments and Pathway changes.

500-page limit
The 500-page limit now applies to supporting documents accompanying initiating applications and replies for certain dispute types. The new limit will help the Commission to meet its statutory mandate to resolve the real issues in proceedings justly, quickly, cost effectively and with as little formality as possible.

For more information on the 500-page limit, please review PIC News edition #75.

Applying to lodge additional documents
Applications to lodge additional documents must now be submitted on the new Form P01 – Application to Lodge Additional Documents that is available in the Pathway Portal. The Form P01 can be lodged with the initiating application or reply, or at a later time in the proceedings provided it is no later than 14 days before a medical assessment or three working days before a conference or hearing, unless leave is otherwise granted.

The new Form P01 must be used for all additional document applications. It has replaced the former methods in which additional or late documents were lodged and introduced into Commission proceedings.

To lodge a Form P01 together with an initiating application or reply for proceedings subject to the 500-page limit, you can access the Form P01 questions from within the application or reply you are completing. A ‘Lodge Additional Documents’ section is available underneath the panel where you drag your supporting documents. Simply tick the ‘Lodge additional documents’ checkbox to be taken to the Form P01 questions to complete.

To lodge a Form P01 in all other circumstances, on the Matter Details screen, click on the New Form button next to the applicable application in the Application Forms section, then select New Form P01 – Application to Lodge Additional Documents from the dropdown. You will then be taken to the Form P01 to complete.

Understanding the new requirements
Insurers and practitioners are strongly encouraged to review the new rule and procedural directions and other helpful materials that are available on our dedicated website page. Thank you again for your engagement with these reforms.

Pathway Portal enhancements

• Submissions, that should be limited to submissions only and not include further evidence.
• Formal correspondence to the Commission relating to a matter.

Appointments

The Commission recently sought expressions of interest to join our mediator cohort. We received some terrific applications, and I sincerely thank everyone who took the time to apply. We are pleased to announce the commencement of seven mediator appointments:

• Glenn Capel, Joseph Catanzariti AM, Danae Harvey, Elizabeth Medland, Michael Mills, Michael Perry and Ray Plibersek.

Further, in addition to the appointment of Acting Division Head, Josephine Bamber, three of our existing members have been dually appointed by the Attorney General to the new Police Officer Support Scheme Division:

• Susan McTegg, Richard Perrignon and Mitchell Strachan.

Please join me in congratulating our new appointees.

The Commission’s 2023-24 Annual Review is now available

The Personal Injury Commission’s Annual Review 2023-24 is now available.

The Commission’s Annual Review has been prepared in accordance with the Personal Injury Commission Act 2020 and outlines our operations, performance and key achievements in the 2023-24 reporting period.

The Annual Review highlights the diligent work undertaken by the Commission’s people, with 16,585 dispute applications registered and 18,366 dispute applications finalised in the reporting year.

In addition to this, the Annual Review outlines some of the Commission’s key achievements, including one of the Commission’s highest strategic priorities since establishment – to create a seamless digital journey for injured people and tribunal users through a single digital platform. This was achieved in June 2024 when all workers compensation users were transitioned to the Pathway platform.

You can view the Personal Injury Commission’s Annual Review 2023-24 on our website.

Generative AI

Last week the Chief Justice of NSW issued a Practice Note and Judicial Guidelines in response to the challenges posed by the potential use of Generative AI technology in the Supreme Court of NSW. This will commence in February 2025 with associated amendments the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005. The announcement, Practice Note and Judicial Guidelines can be found here.

The Commission has been following the development of this response to the challenges posed by the use of Generative AI in all legal proceedings, whether in the Courts or the State’s Tribunals. Now that this Practice Note, and guidance material have been issued, the Commission intends to develop an approach to the use of Generative AI for both users and decision-makers, which is consistent with what the Chief Justice has published. This may involve changes to the Personal Injury Commission Rules 2021, Procedural Directions and Codes of Conduct for our decision-makers to reflect the Chief Justice’s response.

Practitioners are advised to monitor PIC News in the New Year for announcements on the Commission’s requirements on this issue.

End-of-year shutdown

The Commission’s operations will completely close between Monday 23 December 2024 and Friday 3 January 2025 with operations to resume on Monday 6 January 2025. 

Key dates to note:

• The last official sitting day of the Commission is Friday 13 December 2024. However, matters may be listed by exception with Division Head approval during the week of 16 December 2024.
• The Commission’s offices will close at 4.30pm on Friday 20 December 2024.
• There will be no medical assessments or preliminary conferences conducted after Friday 20 December 2024.
• In the Workers Compensation Division, there will be no medical assessment certificates, certificates of determination, consent orders, mediation certificates and medical appeal panel certificates issued between Monday 23 December 2024 and Friday 3 January 2025.
• In the Motor Accidents Division, there will be no medical assessment certificates, medical review panel certificates and certificates/statements of reasons issued between Monday 23 December 2024 and Friday 3 January 2025.

Operations will recommence as follows:

• The Commission's offices will reopen at 8:30am on Monday 6 January 2025.
• Medical assessments will recommence on Monday 6 January 2025.
• Decisions and certificates will be issued from Monday 6 January 2025.
• Preliminary conferences, conciliation/arbitrations, assessment conferences and mediations will recommence on Monday 13 January 2025.

Thanks to the introduction of the Pathway Portal, parties will still be able to submit material via the portal during the shutdown including all applications, associated documents, and appeals. Pathway platform support will still be available during the shutdown.

Anything filed during the shutdown period that is time-sensitive, such as appeals, will be received by the Commission at the time it is entered into the system or the next working day in accordance with rule 26 of the Personal Injury Commission Rules 2021.

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