Duty of Care for Organisations Responsible for Children and Bans on Claim Farming
Civil Law (Wrongs) Amendment Bill 2026
Assembly
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
Organisations responsible for children must take reasonable precautions to prevent child abuse by people associated with the organisation.
Organisations are presumed to have breached this duty if child abuse occurs; the organisation must then prove it took reasonable precautions.
Criminal offences are created for paying, receiving, or arranging fees for referring people to make legal claims (claim farming).
People who engage in claim farming face fines of up to 300 penalty units.
Law practices convicted of claim farming cannot recover legal costs; they must repay any costs already received.
Lawyers who engage in claim farming face professional conduct proceedings.