Opposition Senator Malaka Parker is urging the government to build greater flexibility into the proposed Fatal Accidents Bill, arguing that bereavement awards should be indexed to inflation rather than fixed permanently at $20,000.
According to Antigua News Room, Parker made the appeal during Senate debate on the Fatal Accidents Bill 2026, where she expressed broad support for the legislation while cautioning against locking a static figure into law without a mechanism for future adjustment.
"I have no difficulty with that," Parker said of the $20,000 cap, but warned that the amount would steadily lose purchasing power if left unchanged over time.
She urged fellow senators to consider tying the bereavement award to inflation, allowing it to adjust automatically with the cost of living. Such an approach, she argued, would spare future governments the burden of amending the legislation simply to keep the compensation relevant.
"As times change and our economies evolve," Parker said, the fixed payment could quickly become inadequate for grieving families.
As an alternative, Parker proposed granting Cabinet the authority to revise the maximum award periodically through affirmative regulations — a process that would still require parliamentary approval. "We have all of these tools available to us," she said, emphasising that proactive provisions would prevent lawmakers from revisiting the same debate decades down the line.
Parker acknowledged that the current $20,000 figure represented an improvement over figures discussed in earlier deliberations, but maintained that inflation would erode its value regardless. "And then in 30 years, we're having this discussion again," she warned, cautioning that the amount could be worth only a fraction of its present value if left unrevised.
The opposition senator also noted that the bereavement payment forms just one component of the compensation framework under the proposed bill, and that families may seek additional damages through other provisions of the legislation.
Despite her reservations about the fixed amount, Parker voiced clear support for modernising Antigua and Barbuda's fatal accidents laws, describing the repeal of the existing outdated legislation as a positive development. She encouraged lawmakers to make the reforms as comprehensive and future-proof as possible.
