Victims push for boating reform

A Port Hedland teenager who sustained horrific injuries in a local boating accident is pushing the State Government to bring in laws to provide compensation for boat crash victims.

Chantelle Schweikert-Norman, 19, was involved in an accident off Port Hedland last October in which she was thrown across a friend’s boat and smashed her face.

She is still missing eight teeth, has a heavy-duty metal plate in her mouth, some nerve damage and scarring to her lips and chin.

Ms Schweikert-Norman’s injuries were not covered by the boat’s third-party insurance policy because it only covered damage to property, not people. She needs $20,000 to pay for surgery.

“I don’t have the funds to even get close to having anything done because there are a lot of things that need to be restructured,” Ms Schweikert-Norman said. “I feel like if I do something I want to do, I shouldn’t, because it’s ‘what about your teeth’?”

Ms Schweikert-Norman has joined forces with Perth resident Kate Campbell, who was similarly injured in a 2007 accident, to speak out about their plight.

The pair are pushing for a parliamentary inquiry into whether there should be a compulsory third-party insurance scheme to help pay the medical costs of people injured in boating accidents, similar to the scheme for motor vehicle accidents.

“We want this to go through because we know there is a lot of other (victims) out there but some of them haven’t got the voice or haven’t had the urge to get something pushed across,” Ms Schweikert-Norman said. “It’s really hard. There was a point there where I felt like giving up because I just wasn’t getting anywhere, no one was helping me.”

Ms Campbell, 23, was lucky her family were able to pay her medical bill of almost $300,000 after she was injured when State MP Janet Woollard’s son Luke crashed his father’s boat into an unlit navigational marker south of Canning Bridge.

Ms Campbell said it was ironic that boats were not covered by a third-party (person) insurance scheme, but the trailers used to take them to the water were.

Ms Schweikert-Norman said she and Ms Campbell hoped to collect a petition of 10,000 signatures to have compensation laws changed while the pair were also lobbying relevant members of parliament.