PERSONAL INJURIES (LIABILITIES AND DAMAGES) ACT 2003 - SECT 7 Volunteers and community organisations

PERSONAL INJURIES (LIABILITIES AND DAMAGES) ACT 2003 - SECT 7

    (1)     A volunteer does not incur personal civil liability for a personal injury caused by an act done in good faith and without recklessness while doing community work for a community organisation.

    (2)     Subsection (1) does not apply if the volunteer:

        (a)     knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that he or she was acting outside the scope of his or her authority or contrary to the instructions of the community organisation; or

        (b)     did the act while intoxicated.

    (3)     A community organisation:

        (a)     incurs the civil liability that would, but for subsection (1), have been incurred by the volunteer doing work for that organisation; and

        (b)     is liable for the personal injury caused by the act of the volunteer as if the volunteer were an employee of the community organisation.

    (4)     Liability that would be incurred under subsection (3) by a community organisation that is an Agency or department of the Territory, if the Agency or department were a body corporate, is incurred by the Territory.

    (5)     An agreement, undertaking or arrangement has no effect to the extent that it provides for a volunteer to give a community organisation an indemnity against, or to make a contribution to a community organisation in relation to:

        (a)     a liability the volunteer would incur but for subsection (1); and

        (b)     a liability the community organisation incurs under subsection (3).

    (6)     If under this section a community organisation incurs civil liability for a personal injury, a member of the organisation's management committee (however described) does not incur personal liability for that injury.

    (7)     In this section:

"community organisation" means a religious body, a body corporate, or an Agency or department of the Territory, that organises, directs or supervises community work done by volunteers.

"community work":

        (a)     means work done for any of the following purposes:

            (i)     a religious, educational, charitable or benevolent purpose;

            (ii)     the promotion or encouragement of literature, science or the arts;

            (iii)     the purposes of sport, recreation or amusement;

            (iv)     the conservation or protection of the environment;

            (v)     the establishment, operation or improvement of a community, social or cultural centre;

            (vi)     the promotion of the interests of a local community;

            (vii)     a political purpose;

            (viii)     any purpose prescribed by regulation; but

        (b)     does not include work done under:

            (i)     a community work order made under the Fines and Penalties (Recovery) Act 2001 or the Youth Justice Act 2005 ; or

            (ii)     a community correction order or intensive community correction order made under the Sentencing Act 1995 ; or

            (iii)     a community work order made under the Sentencing Act 1995 as in force before the commencement of Part 2 of the Sentencing and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2022 .

"volunteer", in relation to a community organisation, means a person doing community work for that organisation:

        (a)     who receives no remuneration for doing that work other than:

            (i)     remuneration that the person would receive whether or not he or she did that work; or

            (ii)     the reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred by the person in doing that work; or

        (b)     who receives remuneration that does not exceed the amount, if any, prescribed by the Regulations.