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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3795 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I have talked to representatives of the insurance industry. They want to ensure that people do not understate their compensation premium obligations and they want to see measures in place which will bring that about. I want to see that happen because it would end up meaning that more people were insured and fewer businesses would have imposed upon them undue workers compensation premiums. Hopefully, if we can get everybody playing the game fairly, premiums and the cost to business of workers compensation would be lower.

The end result could turn out to be a bonus to workers because it is quite possible that the additional earnings that flow to employers would find their way into the economy and create more activity and therefore some jobs. None of that would be of any use, of course, unless an appropriate occupational health and safety strategy was in place. As members would know, we have been working in this place, government and non - government members, in one direction or another to ensure that that happens.

There is throughout the country a tendency towards higher penalties to create disincentives for injury in the workplace. There is no reason that should not find its way into the workers compensation system in the ACT. The ACT system is a completely private system regulated by government. It is a system which has been the subject of criticism in the past. One of the criticisms has been about workers' entitlements. One of the recommendations of the committee which looked into these matters was that workers' entitlements should not be interfered with.

One other important recommendation was that the database that the government was putting together should be in place by the end of this year. It looks as though that database is running pretty well at this stage. I must say that I was impressed by the evidence that I saw in relation to the database. I will be keeping an eye on that and see how it affects the way that workers compensation in the ACT is monitored.

I note that the minister says that he will be bringing forward legislation tomorrow. By the sound of it, it contains some of the issues which were prompted by the committee of inquiry which consisted of you, Mr Speaker, Mr Osborne and me. I thank both of you for your involvement in that committee. I have probably thanked both of you before, but it was about a significant matter which affects lots of people in the ACT.

The fines were not agreed to by all members, but I think they are worthwhile in the context of this debate. I am confident that this bill will result in better reporting of workers compensation out there in the community. I regret that some employers will think that, basically, we are having a shot at them and declaring them all to be dishonest and disreputable. That is not the case. It is the old bad apples in a barrel addage: it only takes one or two to bring ill on the rest and we want to try to create enough disincentives to ensure that the lesser is the case and that these breaches of the legislation will be more and more infrequent.

The more we level out the playing field in relation to workers compensation and injury prevention and ensure that we are all involved in it with an equal amount of sincerity and energy, the sooner we reduce the incidence of injury and make sure that the compensation is adequate for injured workers where unfortunate injuries occur. It is a blight on this community that we have such high rates of injury, but those who employ unfairly, do not declare their insurance and do not insure their workers ought to consider

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