Page 4562 - Week 12 - Thursday, 15 October 2009
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fund to raise capital with a forward levy, which will also mean insurers’ costs are smoothed out. Insurers will then be able to include specific costs of the default insurance fund on their invoices to employers.
This is also a good change that will improve transparency. It will let employers identify costs to their businesses that are due to recalcitrant employers who are not paying their premiums. One constructive impact of this is that employers and employer groups will be more likely to encourage other employers to take out compulsory insurance. In this way it should help facilitate a peer review system among employers.
Interestingly, this was also an intention of the 2005 amendments. Those amendments made it a requirement for insurance policies to tell employers how much money they are levied for the default insurance fund. Unfortunately, because of the irregular way in which the fund pays out, the declarations did not occur in practice.
The 2005 amendments did not help facilitate a peer review system at all. Nevertheless, the amendment in today’s bill takes a further step that should correct that. In conclusion, the Greens are pleased to see the changes made by this bill. They have been needed for some time. We also recognise that there are many other areas of the workers compensation scheme that still need improvement. For example, there remains a problematic imbalance between the premium rate paid by employers, compared to the fines imposed for not paying the premium.
The number of ACT WorkCover premium audits of employers also needs to be increased. We also need to look at using cease-trading provisions to address the situation where company directions can bankrupt but then re-establish new businesses in a way that is unconscionable and lets them avoid company obligations.
I understand that the government will be bringing forward some of these changes over the coming months and I hope that they will be covered in the Miscellaneous (Workers Compensation) Amendment Bill, which is in the spring legislation program.
I was pleased to learn when talking to UnionsACT recently that they are quite happy with the level to which the government has been including them in the development of these bills. I hope that the government continues to keep all parts of the community closely involved in this process.
In the short term, though, the bill we are looking at today makes two changes, both of which will have a positive effect. The Greens support these changes in the interests of maintaining a fair, equitable and just system of income protection.
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for Disability and Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Corrections) (12.07), in reply: I have previously addressed this Assembly on the role and purpose of the default insurance fund and how it is specifically intended to support injured ACT workers. The fund performs a critical social function within the ACT private sector workers compensation scheme. It provides access to compensation benefits where a worker suffers a work-related injury but their employer has failed to maintain appropriate workers compensation insurance
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