Narrative test costly and complicated

Lisa Singh, MP Minister for Workplace Relations
Wednesday, 15 July 2009

The Minister for Workplace Relations Lisa Singh cautioned Opposition Parties
today on their embrace of the narrative test in workers compensation claims.

“Superficially the narrative test sounds very attractive – and so it comes as no
surprise that the Liberals and the Greens would embrace it without consideration
of the consequences.”

Ms Singh said the narrative test only becomes relevant when considering
workers who are injured as a result of the alleged negligence of their employer
and take action under common law.

“Mr Clayton recommended that the Government give consideration to the
introduction of a narrative test and the Government, based on the advice of
the WorkCover Board considered the experience of other Australian jurisdictions
before coming to a decision.

“Experience in Victoria and in other jurisdictions is that the introduction of the
narrative test has complicated litigation, increased the complexity of case
management and contributed to an increase in the cost of claims.

“Rather than go down a path which has lead to a ‘dogs breakfast’ in Victoria,
the package I took to Cabinet reduced the injury threshold to 20 per cent of
Whole Person Impairment for common law claims.

“Advice from the actuary is that the introduction of a narrative test would
increase the cost of claims by 11.6 per cent and would have been the single
largest increase in costs of all the changes in the Government’s package.

“The Government decided to improve access to common law claims at around
half the cost of the narrative test.

“It surprises me that the Liberals would want to drive premiums up further
for business than necessary for little gain for injured workers.

“I am not surprised that the Greens continue to advocate for more litigation,
more disputation, increased complexity and higher costs for business – they
never have cared about jobs or supporting business during difficult times.

“As the Premier said the other day this package is about finding the right
balance, we are improving access to common law claims while limiting the
burden on business.” Ms Singh said.