Was he in charge when you put in your claim?
No wonder so many of us were denied benefits and common law rights when you
have the head of worksafe spending money like there was no tomorrow!!!!
What recourse was taken against him after he resigned?
Should he be held responsible for his budget blowouts and spending?
Many injured workers were having claims rejected during this time and were
also denied the no fault insurance benefits worksafe were supposed to provide,
was this happening because of the following story?
Story:
AWB supremo Andrew Lindberg quit as WorkCover chief when Steve Bracks
was elected AWB managing director Andrew Lindberg was a controversial head
of the Victorian WorkCover Authority during the 1990s.
In 1999 the then Labor state opposition accused Mr Lindberg in Parliament
of spending large amounts of the authority's money on entertainment and travel.
Rob Hulls, then shadow WorkCover minister and now Attorney-General,
produced documents showing Mr Lindberg spent $34,646 on entertainment,
transport and accommodation, locally and overseas, while heading WorkCover
from 1992 until 1998.
It was also reported at the time that Mr Lindberg had spent more than
$100,000 on overseas and interstate trips over five years while with the authority.
Mr Hulls told The Age at the time that Mr Lindberg lived "a lifestyle that would
make Australia's richest 200 people blush."
The besieged WorkCover chief resigned in November 1999, a month after
Steve Bracks was sworn in as Premier, citing an inability to work with the new
Government. That was not surprising: as opposition leader, Mr Bracks had gone
after Mr Lindberg, calling for his head in July that year.
Mr Bracks attacked Mr Lindberg for "arrogantly and quickly" dismissing a
key recommendation by a royal commission into the 1998 Longford gas blast
that a major hazards unit should be established separate to WorkCover.
Trade union leaders also condemned Mr Lindberg, saying WorkCover had
fallen apart while he was at the helm. Leigh Hubbard, who was Victorian Trades
Hall secretary at the time, was among the chorus who welcomed his resignation.
Yesterday, Mr Hubbard described Mr Lindberg as a "divisive and dogmatic"
WorkCover leader who had failed to consult others. "Andrew was quite
schizophrenic in the way that he was quite personable on one hand then was
wanting to drive through an agenda without talking to anyone," he said.
"Granted, that that was under (Jeff) Kennett."
"He appears to have inherited this new problem with AWB and run with it,
" Mr Hubbard said.
Mr Lindberg's 1999 resignation from WorkCover came a week after the
authority announced a budget blow-out of $176 million for the previous year.
Mr Lindberg joined AWB in 2000, taking with him a number of his WorkCover
colleagues, including director of public affairs Eileen McMahon.
By Mathew Murphy, January 20, 2006
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