Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 2003

For the purposes of deciding a compensation application, an assessor may do any or all of the following, either on the application of an interested person or on the assessor’s own initiative —

amend the application;

give written notice of the application and of any amendment to it to an interested person;

seek and receive any information or evidence that the assessor thinks necessary;

make any inquiries and investigate any matters that the assessor thinks necessary;

request the applicant to provide the assessor with information in relation to the application;

defer deciding the application in order to obtain more information or until information requested under paragraph (c), (d) or (e) is provided.

For the purposes of deciding a compensation application, an assessor may give a person a written notice that requires the person to do any or all of the following —

to give the assessor, within the time specified in the notice, the relevant information described generally or specifically in the notice;

to appear before the assessor at a time and place specified in the notice to give relevant evidence to the assessor;

to produce to the assessor, within the time specified in the notice, any relevant record that is described generally or specifically in the notice and that is in the person’s possession or control.

The powers in subsection (1) and (2) may be exercised whether or not a hearing of the compensation application is to be conducted.

An assessor to whom a record is produced may inspect and make a copy of the record and for those purposes may keep the record for a reasonable time.

A person who is given a notice under subsection (2) and who, without a reasonable excuse, does not comply with it commits an offence.

For the purposes of deciding a compensation application by or on behalf of a person who claims to have suffered an injury as a consequence of the commission of an offence (the victim), an assessor, either on the application of an interested person or on the assessor’s own initiative, may —

direct the victim to attend and be examined by a health professional nominated by the assessor; and

defer deciding the application until the victim has complied with the direction.

If an assessor directs such a victim to attend and be examined by a health professional —

the assessor may give the health professional a copy of any report by another health professional about the victim; and

the assessor must request the health professional to provide the assessor with a report of the examination; and

the Chief Assessor must pay the reasonable cost of the examination and the report; and

any compensation award must be reduced by the amount so paid.

If a victim does not obey such a direction, the assessor may take account of the fact by reducing any compensation award made in favour of the victim.