Treloar v State of Tasmania

The Supreme Court of Tasmania, Court of Appeal, heard an appeal concerning a workers' compensation claim brought by Mr. Treloar against the State of Tasmania. The central dispute revolved around the determination of Mr. Treloar's degree of permanent impairment for the purposes of his workers' compensation claim.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the composition of the medical panel that assessed Mr. Treloar's permanent impairment was valid. Specifically, the Court had to determine if it was a requirement under the relevant legislation that every member of a medical panel convened to assess the degree of permanent impairment of a claimant must be an accredited medical assessor.

The Court reasoned that the legislation did not mandate that all members of a medical panel must be accredited medical assessors when the medical question referred to the panel involved the degree of permanent impairment. The Court found that while accredited medical assessors are required to *perform* assessments of the degree of permanent impairment of the whole person, this did not extend to requiring every member of a medical panel to hold such accreditation when the panel's task was to determine a medical question that *involved* the degree of permanent impairment. Consequently, the Court dismissed the appeal, upholding the decision of the lower court. The application to extend time was also dismissed.