Supreme Court of New South Wales

Part 9

Volunteers

59 - Application of Part

(1)   This Part applies to civil liability of any kind, other than liability for defamation.

(2)   This Part does not apply to civil liability that is excluded from the operation of this Part by section 3B.


60 - Definitions

(1)   In this Part:

“community organisation” means any of the following that organises the doing of community work by volunteers and that is capable of being sued for damages in civil proceedings:

(a)  a body corporate,

(b)  a church or other religious organisation,

(c)  an authority of the State.

“community work” means work that is not for private financial gain and that is done for a charitable, benevolent, philanthropic, sporting, educational or cultural purpose, and includes work declared by the regulations to be community work but does not include work declared by the regulations not to be community work.“organised” includes directed or supervised.“volunteer” means a person who does community work on a voluntary basis.“work” includes any activity.

(2)   For the purposes of this Part:

(a)  community work done by a person under an order of a court is not to be regarded as work done on a voluntary basis, and

(b)  community work for which a person receives remuneration by way of reimbursement of the person’s reasonable expenses in doing the work, or within limits prescribed by the regulations, is to be regarded as work done on a voluntary basis.

(3)   A regulation declaring work to be community work may be expressed to extend to apply in respect of civil liability for an act or omission occurring before the commencement of the regulation, except in a case in which proceedings to recover damages for the act or omission were commenced in a court before that commencement.


61 - Protection of volunteers

A volunteer does not incur any personal civil liability in respect of any act or omission done or made by the volunteer in good faith when doing community work:

(a) organised by a community organisation, or

(b) as an office holder of a community organisation.


62 - Liability not excluded for criminal acts

This Part does not confer protection from personal liability on a volunteer in respect of an act or omission of the volunteer if it is established (on the balance of probabilities) that at the time of the act or omission the volunteer was engaged in conduct that constitutes an offence.


63 - Liability of intoxicated volunteer not excluded

The protection from personal liability conferred on a volunteer by this Part in connection with any community work does not apply if:

(a)  the ability of the volunteer to exercise reasonable care and skill when doing the work was significantly impaired by reason of the volunteer being under the influence of alcohol or a drug voluntarily consumed (whether or not it was consumed for medication), and

(b)  the volunteer failed to exercise reasonable care and skill when doing the work.


64 - Liability of volunteer not excluded if acting outside scope of activities or contrary to instructions

This Part does not confer protection from personal liability on a volunteer in respect of an act or omission of a volunteer if the volunteer knew or ought reasonably to have known that he or she was acting:

(a) outside the scope of the activities authorised by the community organisation concerned, or

(b) contrary to instructions given by the community organisation.


65 - Liability not excluded if insurance required

This Part does not confer protection from personal liability on a volunteer if the liability is a liability that is required by or under a written law of the State to be insured against.


66 - Liability not excluded for motor accidents

The protection from personal liability conferred on a volunteer by this Part does not apply if the liability would, but for this Part, be covered by a third-party insurance policy under the Motor Accidents Compensation Act 1999 or be recoverable from the Nominal Defendant under that Act.

Tapp v Australian Bushmen’s Campdraft & Rodeo Association Ltd [2019] NSWSC 1506

The plaintiff participated in a campdraft event organised by the defendant. She fell from her horse whilst completing late on the second day of a three day event and suffered a significant spinal injury. She is wheelchair bound. The plaintiff alleged that her fall was caused by the negligence of the defendant.

On s 61: The judge accepted that the announcer, the people who prepared the arena surface, the personnel who worked the grounds, the judge, the 5 men who fell before the plaintiff, the company secretary and others were volunteers, and were entitled to s 61 protection. They were not acting outside the scope of activities authorised by the organisation or contrary to instructions given by the organisation: [225].

Last updated:

10 Nov 2024

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