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Team Members

Tony Park

Partner
With more than 25 years’ experience in insurance law, Tony is a recognised leader in his field, and has been listed in Best Lawyers Australia since 2013.

Tony has been workgroup leader of Cooper Grace Ward’s insurance team since 2008 and has been a member of CGW’s Board since 2015. Tony practises in personal injuries litigation, specialising in worker’s compensation claims. He is currently the Supervising Partner for our relationship with WorkCover Queensland and also acts for a number of major self-insured workers’ compensation clients.

He also advises self-insurers and other employers in relation to the statutory review process and represents those clients in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission and the Industrial Court.

Tony has special experience and interest in claims involving the health, retail and mining industries, including multi-party claims spanning the various Queensland personal injuries schemes. He also has a special interest in pure psychological injury claims.

Tony has been listed in Best Lawyers Australia for Insurance since, and for Insurance and Personal Injury Litigation since 2014 and 2015.

  • Doyles Guide 2018, 2020, 2021 – Preeminent Lawyer – Workers Compensation & WorkCover, Queensland (Defendant)
  • Bachelor of Laws – University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Economics – University of Queensland
  • Solicitor – Supreme Court of Queensland
  • Appointed – WorkCover Queensland panel lawyer
  • Member – Australian Insurance Law Association
  • Listed in Best Lawyers Australia for Insurance every year since 2013 and Personal Injury Litigation every year since 2015
  • Ranked as a Leading Worker’s Compensation Lawyer in the Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession each year since 2015.
  • Ranked as a Recommended Public and Product Liability Lawyer in the Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession in 2020.
  • Supervising partner for a total of approximately 200 current common law damages claims under the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld) and statutory review claims.
  • Responsible for resolving over 1,000 claims during the period he has focused on workers’ compensation claims management. The considerable majority of these resolutions have been achieved with Tony acting as advocate in the alternate dispute resolution process.
  • Finalises other claims through litigation in the Supreme and District Courts, and Court of Appeal, including successful trial and appeal outcomes.
  • Advises clients in relation to all aspects of WCRA 2003, ranging from entitlement conditions, urgent compliance, disclosure, reasonable suspicion of fraud, and statutory limitation on damages, including gratuitous care.
  • Acts in pure psychological injury claims, with specific expertise in relation to the threshold definitional issues of ‘injury’, particularly in relation to the ‘reasonable management action’ exclusion. These claims have recently included circumstances of bullying and harassment, overwork/lack of support and racial discrimination. Tony assists his clients by drafting reasons for a decision in relation to such claims, with many decisions being upheld by the Regulator.
  • Represented a major self-insurer in an important recent decision in the Industrial Court, relating to journey claims.
  • Involved in many multiple-party claims under the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2009 (Cth), including mining, construction and labour hire claims.
  • Acts in claims relating to indemnity issues and ‘double insurance’, involving motor vehicles, including a recent claim involving a seriously injured claimant where a ‘double insurance’ situation arose with the CTP insurer.
  • Regular presenter on the topic of claims involving a reasonable suspicion of fraud. Assisted in gathering evidence in matters involving ultimately successful prosecutions for fraud.
  • Acts in claims involving major retailers, including ‘over a period of time’ claims.
  • Currently representing a major retail self-insurer in a High Court appeal.

Areas of Expertise

Publications

Pot scrubber fails in repetitive injury claim in Mackay District Court

In the recent decision of Bishop v Compass Group Remote Hospitality Services Pty Ltd [2024] QDC 14, the District Court found that, although the employer had breached its duty of care towards its employee, that breach had not caused the injured worker’s bilateral elbow condition.

Podcast: Coffee with CGW - Get to know Tony Park

Join us for a coffee chat with insurance partner Tony Park and private clients partner Scott Hay-Bartlem as we delve into Tony's background, explore his life outside work, and discuss what gets him excited about his work in this candid conversation.

Watch your step! Neither employer nor principal contractor liable for worker’s failure to watch where they were going

In the recent District Court decision of Morris v Evolution Traffic Control Pty Ltd [2023] QDC 195, an employer and principal contractor were both found not liable for a trip and fall on a raised section of bitumen at a traffic site.