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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 3 Hansard (13 March) . . Page.. 1100 ..

(a) Is this proposed to change and allow access to the database for analysis purposes to other bodies and individuals?

Information held in the AIMS database is subject to the information privacy principles (IPPs) set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) which govern management and disclosure of personal information. Therefore, there are some legal limitations on the provision of data records from the AIMS database , for instance, where the data records would identify individuals who have made workers compensation claims.

However, data that is aggregated to de-identify individuals is already provided to a variety of national benchmarking reports, which are publicly available. For instance, private sector workers' compensation data is provided to the Workplace Relations Ministers' Council annual Comparative Performance Monitoring (CPM) report. Information included in the CPM report covers comparisons of:

compensated injury rates by industry and mechanism of injury;

compensated fatality rates; and

average workers compensation premium rates, including by industry.

AIMS database statistics are also published in WorkCover's Annual Report and Strategic Plan and are available on WorkCover's website.

WorkCover will consider specific requests for additional data from the AIMS database, subject to the need to comply with privacy laws, the availability of resources to answer these requests and other budget priorities.

(7) Administrative Expenses (Page 64):

(a) Is it to be assumed that the significant increase in legal expenses is directly related to the HIH claims;

No. The legal expenses reported on page 64 are not related to HIH claims on the Workers Compensation Supplementation Fund. The Occupational Health and Safety Commissioner advises that these costs are WorkCover expenses and do not relate to Fund matters. Predominantly, the costs relate to enforcement activity under the Dangerous Goods Act 1975.

(b) Given that the costs are associated with claims outcomes, is this good value for money;

Not applicable. See answer to question (a).

(c) Is this amount directly related to the significant commitment in resources to fireworks that is deflecting WorkCover's focus away from OH&S in the workplace;

The amount of legal costs for 2001-02 reported on page 64 of the Annual Report does not relate solely to matters arising from the regulation of the fireworks industry (legal

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