Australia Announces Improvements to the Comcare Scheme

The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard, today
informed the Workplace Relations Ministerial Council (WRMC) meeting of a
number of improvements the Government will make to the Comcare scheme
following a comprehensive review.

The Comcare scheme provides workers’ compensation and occupational
health and safety (OHS) arrangements for employees of the Australian
Government and of some private sector companies that are licensed to
self-insure their workers’ compensation liabilities under the scheme.

As promised at the last election, the Rudd Government imposed a
moratorium on private sector companies seeking to join the
Comcare scheme and announced a review to ensure that Comcare
is a suitable OHS and workers’ compensation system for self-insurers
and their employees.

Given the progress towards harmonised national OHS laws and the
proposed transfer of OHS coverage for Comcare self-insurers to the
states and territories, the Government will maintain the moratorium
until 2011 when uniform OHS laws have been implemented in all
jurisdictions.

To do otherwise would cause unnecessary dislocation in that companies
would need to adapt to Comcare and then quickly change again to adapt
to the new model laws.

The Government will introduce legislation to give effect to the moratorium
for this further period.

In response to the review, the Government will make a number of
important improvements to the Comcare scheme.

To encourage timely determination of workers’ compensation claims, a
statutory time limit will be introduced within which claims must be determined.

The Government will reinstate workers’ compensation coverage for off-site
recess breaks. This will re-align the Comcare scheme with the majority of
jurisdictions and remove the inequity in coverage for employees whose
employers do not provide on-site facilities for meal breaks.

Medical and related costs will continue to be paid where a worker’s weekly
compensation benefits are suspended for refusing to participate in the
rehabilitation process.

The Minister will direct Comcare to strengthen its enforcement of OHS.

The Minister will also write to Comcare and ask it to issue guidance material
to assist employers in improving consultation with all employees on OHS matters.

These improvements build on earlier enhancements and work already
underway.

The Government has already increased workers’ compensation lump sum
and weekly death benefits under the Comcare scheme to align them more
closely with death benefits payable under State and Territory schemes.

In considering improvements to the Comcare scheme, the Government had
regard to the Report of the Review of Self Insurance Arrangements under
the Comcare Scheme, prepared by the Department of Education,
Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).

The Department’s report drew on information from stakeholder consultation
and 80 written submissions to the review. The Department engaged Taylor
Fry Consulting Actuaries to collect the information and provide expert
advice to inform the review.