Margarita Windisch, Melbourne 10th August 2008
The Victorian state government is considering far-reaching changes
to workers’ compensation laws.
Peter Hanks QC was commissioned in December 2007 to conduct
an inquiry into the 1985 Accident Compensation Act (WorkCare),
which under the former Liberal government of premier Jeff
Kennett government was transformed into WorkCover in 1992.
According to the July 18 Age, Hanks has recommended 133 changes
to be incorporated into a new scheme called “WorkSafe Victoria”.
Under the Kennett government, a raft of changes to Victoria’s Accident
Compensation Act were introduced between 1992 and 1999 that
severely reduced injured workers’ access to compensation and
massively decreased their entitlements. Thousands of long-term
injured workers were thrown off compensation altogether.
Workers also lost their right to sue under common law
negligent employers, doctors who treat work injuries and manufacturers
of faulty equipment.
New changes introduced to WorkCover by consecutive Labor
governments since 1999 have delivered minimal improvements to
injured workers, but the million dollar handouts to employers have
continued unabated.
A Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) briefing paper estimates
that over the last four years employers have benefitted from a
45% cut to average WorkCover premiums, delivering savings to
bosses of close to $2 billion. Workers netted only a total of
$45 million. WorkCover recorded a net profit of $1.17 billion for
the financial year ending June 2007 and boasts on its website of an
almost $2 billion dollar reduction of long-term claim costs since
2001-02.
Geoff Lewin, a member of the Community and Public Sector Union and
participant in the stakeholder reference group (SRG) around the proposed
changes, has raised serious concern over Hanks’ draft recommendations;
the report will be delivered to the WorkCover minister in late August.
“Hanks is proposing that any worker who has been on the
maximum of 130 weeks of compensation will be thrown off the
system if there is a demonstrated five minute work capacity”,
he told Green Left Weekly.
A VTHC document claims that Hanks is planning to maintain
the 30% impairment test threshold for psychiatric injuries and
the 10% impairment threshold for most physical injuries.
Lewin told GLW that Hanks proposes to extend the preclusions
for stress injuries put in place by Kennett in 1992 through
scrapping benefits for psychological or psychiatric injury received
from any “reasonable management action”. “The changes suggested
by Hanks are worse then those under Kennett and will in effect
exclude most people suffering from stress-related [injuries]”,
Lewin said.
The VTHC opposes proposed changes to the return to work
provisions that would remove legislative obligations for employers
to provide workers with suitable employment; instead, the
obligations would be replaced by weaker regulations and guidelines.
The draft report proposes reducing the powers of the already weak
Accident Compensation Conciliation Service, which is the first port
of call if a claim is challenged.
A review panel would become the final arbiter of disputes.
Lewin believes that this would draw out the process and prolong
the process of testing in court claims that have been denied.
Lewin told GLW that having the Victorian WorkCover Authority
conducting the internal review on arbitration will be detrimental
to workers. Lewin said that Victoria’s Labor government
made a serious mistake by appointing a reviewer whose staff come
from the WorkCover Authority or the treasury and finance departments:
“The WorkCover Authority is basically running the inquiry and is
not taking into account the interests of injured workers.”
He added: “In February, Hanks asked the SRG members for issues
to be included in a discussion paper to be released.
VTHC provided 33 major issues of which Hanks only included
three minor ones in his public document.” It is still unclear if the
government will release the Hanks report publically.
It is possible the final report will go to the Autumn parliamentary
session in 2009.
The VTHC “FixWorkCover” campaign calls for an increase in
weekly payments, coverage of all stress injuries, improved disputes
resolution and better return-to-work rights, an end to discrimination
and the inclusion of outworkers in the compensations scheme.
For more information visit http://www.fixworkcover.org/.
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