By ABC News

Copyright abc

Individuals who contact a survivor of abuse or personal injury without their permission to encourage them to make a claim for compensation could face fines of up to $50,000 under new laws which have passed in South Australia.

The reforms, which passed last week, will ban the practice known as “claim farming”, which is when an individual or business makes unsolicited contact with a victim who may have grounds for a civil injury claim in order to obtain their personal information and receive a benefit for referring them to a law firm to pursue compensation.

It follows recent calls for a nationwide ban on the practice, after many survivors of child sexual abuse told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that they had experienced being cold called by law firms.

The practice has already been banned in Queensland and New South Wales.

The South Australian legislation prohibits anyone from making unsolicited contact with another person to solicit or induce them to make a personal injury claim, with the expectation that they would receive a benefit in exchange.

The change has made it illegal to give or receive a benefit in exchange for the personal details of someone who has, or may have, a personal injury claim.

Under the laws, anyone who engages in the practice could be fined up to $50,000, with lawyers also facing disciplinary action through the Legal Practitioners Act.

‘Gutter behaviour’

SA’s Attorney-General Kyam Maher described claim farming as an “immoral” practice.

“Targeting vulnerable people who have been injured, including victims of abuse, at a point in their life where they desperately need help and support simply to try and make a quick buck – is gutter behaviour,” Mr Maher said.

“Whilst all persons with an injury are vulnerable to some degree, claim farmers often target people with vulnerabilities additional to the injury.

“People who have suffered an injury, through no fault of their own, deserve better and these laws will help prevent predatory operators who seek to profit from their misfortune.”

The state government said the reforms would still allow individuals to contact a victim, at their request, for a class action or altruistic approaches, without any expectation or intention to receive a benefit as a result.

It also said outlawing claim farming would not prevent victims from bringing a claim for compensation.

Bipartisan support for change

The reforms had bipartisan support, with Shadow Attorney-General Josh Teague describing claim farming as a “wholly undesirable activity that has been … happening, as I understand it, particularly interstate and particularly in the eastern states”.

The Malinauskas government first brought the reforms to parliament in September 2024 but did not press them through parliament until last week.

Mr Teague said the delay indicated that there had “been no emergent fresh crisis” of claim farming activity in South Australia.