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/.
From: Comment & Analysis, Green Left Weekly issue #762 13 August 2008.
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