Government to introduce workers compensation changes amid union backlash
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey says changes to workers compensation will keep the scheme sustainable, despite reforms being softened compared to an original exposure draft.
NSW
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The Minns government has softened its crackdown on workplace compensation reform which was designed to stop spurious psychological injury claims sending the insurance scheme broke.
Legislation to reform the scheme has been watered down compared to an original “exposure draft” circulated earlier this month.
The final legislation, which passed cabinet on Monday, will be presented to Labor MPs and introduced to parliament today.
The changes come after the Union movement launched an all-out assault on Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, who they accused of betraying injured workers.
Under the draft legislation, it would have been harder for workers to claim compensation for psychological injury. It included measures to ensure claims were assessed before the Industrial Relations court before going into the compensation scheme, and would have defined “reasonable management practices”.
It also set a higher threshold which injured workers would need to meet to claim permanent compensation.
That has changed, allowing workers to lodge compensation claims if “excessive work demands” have led to a psychological injury.
Psychological injury claims will not need to go through an industrial relations court first.
Changes that would increase the threshold for permanent compensation will also be staggered, with the threshold increasing gradually instead of all at once.
Frontline workers who are injured after “repeated exposure to the traumatic experiences of others” will be able to claim compensation for vicarious trauma.
The government last night described its changes as “refinements” to its original proposals, while Mr Mookhey said the reforms will create a “modern system” that will ensure the workplace insurance scheme remains sustainable.
In a further bid to stop an explosion in psychological injury claims overloading the system, the Minns government will also spend $344 million on a Workplace Mental Health package to help prevent injuries before they occur.
The legislation is designed to prevent the workplace compensation scheme collapsing under an avalanche of psychological injury claims which would leave the budget $2.6 billion worse off if not reformed.
Without reform, businesses would also face skyrocketing insurance premiums to cover an increasing number of costly psychological injury claims, to ensure the scheme has enough money to pay out compensation.
Mr Mookhey said the changes will “ensure that future generations of workers across NSW have a workers compensation system they can rely on”.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Damien Tudehope left the door open to opposing the crackdown yesterday, accusing Mr Mookhey of taking “an axe to a system which needed a scalpel”.
He conceded the current system is “out of control,” but said the Coalition would wait to see the final legislation before deciding a position.
Mr Tudehope also admitted that he knew the insurance scheme was “running into problems” due to an increase in psychological injury claims, but insisted that the Coalition put in place
measures to fix the problem when in government.
Hundreds of union members protested outside the government’s offices on Monday, accusing Mr Mookhey of betraying workers he was elected to represent.
Other protests were held around the state, including in Tweed Heads, Wagga Wagga, and Newcastle.
The protest came after UnionsNSW launched a $400,000 advertising blitz accusing the government of attacking frontline workers’ mental health.
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Originally published as Government to introduce workers compensation changes amid union backlash
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