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Kerry Splatt named ALA Queensland 2016 Civil Justice Award Winner
12th Feb 2016
Solicitor Kerry Splatt was presented with the honour at the ALA’s Queensland State Conference on the Gold Coast this morning.
ALA Queensland President Rod Hodgson said that Mr Splatt is a highly regarded Queensland solicitor who was a worthy recipient of the Award. Mr Hodgson said that for decades Mr Splatt had filled a range of professional and representative appointments, including serving for approximately 12 years on various committees of the Queensland Law Society (QLS) and Law Council of Australia.
“For many years, Kerry Splatt has been a passionate advocate for injured workers and defender of common law rights, repeatedly demonstrating that he is prepared to go above and beyond to speak up on their behalf,” Mr Hodgson said.
“Kerry’s determination to loudly voice that injured workers deserve the same rights as any
other injured citizen has been greatly admired by many in the community.”
“His robust defence of a healthy, fair and balanced workers’ compensation scheme and his principled, ethical position was, and remains, in and of itself inspirational to members of the legal profession,” Mr Hodgson said.
Mr Hodgson said Queensland previously had the best workers’ compensation scheme in the country, which ran at no cost to government and worked effectively for both employers and injured employees.
Mr Hodgson said in spite of this, the former Government legislated to fundamentally dismantle the scheme, implementing measures that disadvantaged approximately half of all Queenslanders injured in unsafe workplaces.
Mr Hodgson said Mr Splatt continued fighting for the scheme he had stridently defended for many years, with his work being widely acknowledged as instrumental in the eventual reversal of the Newman Government measures.
“There is no doubt he made a key contribution in the efforts to repeal the Newman
Government changes to workers compensation thresholds, to the benefit of the State’s injured workers both now and into the future,” Mr Hodgson said.
“He has demonstrated he is also prepared to take a stand for what he believes in,
and his efforts to pursue this at a personal cost continue to inspire many,” Mr Hodgson said.
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