Lawsuits against ACT government cost tens of millions as medical negligence payouts rise

The Australian Capital Territory paid $60.7 million in medical negligence damages, settlements and legal costs last financial year, more than twice the amount recorded two years earlier.

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But seeing a more than doubling of medical negligence, damages and settlements over just a two-year period is seriously concerning, both from a medical perspective, and also from a budgetary perspective.

New answers provided during budget estimates showed that the ACT Insurance Authority paid $60.7 million related to medical negligence claims in 2025-26. The territory paid more than $39 million in 2024-25 and about $28.6 million in 2023-24.

Independent MLA Thomas Emerson said some lawsuits could not be avoided, but described the increase as concerning from both medical and budgetary perspectives. He questioned how many health procedures might have been provided through greater investment in the health system.

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How many health procedures could have been provided by investing sufficiently in the health system to avoid the medical negligence claims that have been put forward?

The authority also paid nearly $2.8 million for footpath-related personal injury claims in 2025-26. That compared with about $1.72 million in 2024-25 and slightly more than $1 million in 2023-24. The territory spent nearly $7.2 million on footpath maintenance and repairs in 2025-26, making injury payouts equal to 38 percent of maintenance spending.

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This is evidence that the government is not investing upstream and actually addressing the issues that are leading to harm in our community.

Emerson said the figures suggested the government was not addressing problems early enough and that taxpayers were paying the resulting legal costs. He also pointed to $3.2 million spent settling eight of 85 institutional abuse claims opened during the past three financial years, suggesting the outstanding cases could generate a bill of more than $30 million. He called for closer examination of the growing legal burden on the territory’s finances.

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These figures show the whole-of-government cost of incompetence is massive. They're pretty shocking figures.