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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 10 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 3436 ..
The Assembly voted-
Ayes, 8 Noes, 7 Mr Berry Mr Rugendyke Mrs Burke Mr Smyth Mr Corbell Mr Stanhope Mr Cornwell Mr Stefaniak Mr Hargreaves Ms Tucker Mr Hird Mr Osborne Mr Kaine Mr Quinlan Mr MooreQuestion so resolved in the affirmative.
Amendment agreed to.
MR BERRY (9.32): Mr Speaker, I move my amendment 3 on the gold sheet to Mr Smyth's proposed new clause [see schedule 4, gold sheet, at page 3542].
This amendment goes to the actuarial matter which I referred to earlier. There was some confusion about the issue. It might have been because I did not explain it properly. This actuarial review is for soft tissue injuries, permanent impairment of the back, permanent impairment of the neck and permanent impairment of the pelvis.
The amendment also goes to the requirement of the minister to "commission a report from an actuary who has expertise in workers compensation insurance about the actuarial effect of the amendments made by that Act to this Act and, in particular, the actuarial effect of the inclusion of the disallowable items in schedule 1". The reason the disallowable items are mentioned is that they are an additional and possibly substantial increase in the cost of the legislation. I think we as legislators are obliged to know what that increased cost is.
This legislation must come back to the Assembly before 1 February so that the disallowable items, or any other matter arising from the actuarial review, can be dealt with in the Assembly if members so decide. The amendment does not delay the implementation of this bill. This bill will not take effect until 1 July. The amendment merely puts in place a scheme to ensure that there is an actuarial review of this legislation so that legislators in this place can determine a way forward for these important laws on benefits to workers in the community.
The government have said that they cannot respond to this demand, because they cannot get information. I know that WorkCover is preparing information by the day as a result of the committee which I chaired and the recommendations which came out of that committee. I have seen the information. A long time ago, when I was a minister, I was able to get mountains of information about workers compensation to demonstrate where premiums and various costs were going. Information is much more refined now than it was then. Information you get today will not be as good as that you will get in five years times, but you need a baseline upon which to work.
Any person with experience in this area will be able to make some reasonable determinations and assumptions about the cost of this scheme if they are given the opportunity to do so by way of an independent actuarial assessment of this legislation.
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