Paul Rossiter’s ‘horrible’ TAC experience following daughter Mia’s tragic death

A Geelong father whose daughter was tragically killed in a car accident last year has slammed what he says is a bureaucratic minefield when trying to access compensation.

Paul and Dani Rossiter in Geelong. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Crash victims are increasingly sourcing money through online crowd-funding platforms after getting caught up in what they claim is bureaucratic red tape.

Mia Rossiter, 12, died at the scene of a head-on collision on the Hamilton Hwy at Stonehaven in January last year.

Her father, Paul Rossiter, was a passenger in the car and remained in intensive care for weeks.

Amid the grief and his own physical recovery, he said navigating a TAC death claim was “excruciating”.

Mr Rossiter was shocked TAC representatives didn’t visit him in hospital and became increasingly frustrated over what he said was difficulty in engaging via the phone.

“I was still in intensive care at the Alfred and it was just everything on my mind at once,” he said.

“I thought ‘mate, we’ve just been through all this s--t you make time for us, buddy’.

“It was horrible.”

Mr Rossiter said he reluctantly sought legal help to navigate the process.

“If I didn’t go through (law firm) Slater and Gordon, TAC would’ve taken weeks and weeks and weeks to get back to me,” he said.

“It isn’t really want I wanted, as every time I ring the lawyers it costs me money.

“Ideally, we’d love to be able to go through TAC.”

A friend of the Rossiter family launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds for Mia’s funeral.

It ultimately raised $35,395.

Without it, Mr Rossiter said they would have been unable to cover the costs due to the shortfall on what they received from the TAC.

Paul and Mia Rossiter. Picture: Supplied.

Slater and Gordon’s Sarah Elseidy said she was seeing more and more families raise money online following road fatalities.

She said while at times funeral costs exceeded what TAC would cover, she believed the uptick was because families don’t know how to navigate TAC’s death claim process.

Ms Elseidy said TAC offered a substantial amount of support, not only to cover funeral expenses.

TAC covers funeral expenses of up to $18,860, and reimbursement of funeral travel and accommodation costs of up to $6290.

TAC also provides family counselling funding up to $20,020.

“Every year the pool of money for the funeral expenses goes up,” Ms Elseidy said.

“While funerals are understandably expensive, that will go a fair long way in assisting people … it’s as simple as just being aware of what those entitlements are.”

A TAC spokesman extended sympathy to families mourning the loss a loved one due to road trauma.

He said TAC had well established relationships with businesses and agencies, including funeral providers, Victoria Police and hospitals to ensure families could receive their entitlements.

“This referral process ensures that we carefully manage our responsibility to respect bereaved families’ right to confidentiality and consent to be contacted, while ensuring they are aware of their rights to TAC entitlements,” he said.

Additional support is also available to those who have lost someone they were dependent on, such as a spouse or a parent.

Originally published as Paul Rossiter’s ‘horrible’ TAC experience following daughter Mia’s tragic death