Page 2506 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 9 August 2016
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MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for Planning and Land Management, Minister for Racing and Gaming and Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations) (4.39): The appropriation legislation before the Assembly includes a significant funded initiative in the workplace safety and industrial relations area. This is an initiative to provide supplementation funding worth approximately $15 million in 2016-17 to several front-line government agencies. The funding will assist agencies to meet high Comcare workers compensation premium costs. Members may recall that the ACT public sector workers compensation results are improving. For example, total Comcare premiums reduced by 13 per cent this year and lost time injuries were 17 per cent lower in 2015-16.
Despite these improvements, the Comcare scheme remains expensive for the territory and on occasion continues to result in our injured workers being away from work for longer than they need to be. Notwithstanding the recent rate reductions, Comcare rates have increased at a higher rate than the underlying wage inflation rate. Consequently, agencies have been forced to absorb premium cost increases. Some front-line agencies with relatively high-risk workforces, such as emergency services, require supplementation funding to ensure that they will remain ready to deliver critical services in the community.
Members are aware that establishing a new more efficient workers compensation scheme for the ACT public sector and negotiating the territory’s exit from the Comcare scheme have been the focus of my portfolio area for the past 12 months. It will remain a major focus during the 2016-17 financial year.
The ACT is currently the only state or territory government that outsources responsibility for the care and treatment of its injured workers to another government. It is time for us to take that responsibility on by establishing a scheme that is responsive to the needs of our workforce. The design of our new workers compensation scheme is the subject of ongoing negotiation with trade unions and other stakeholders.
I am pleased to confirm that in these negotiations the welfare of injured workers and the need to prioritise return to work have been the primary focus. This is entirely appropriate and reflects both the governments’ and unions’ focus on the duty of care owed to the territory’s workforce. The recent commitment by ACT Labor to invest additional funds in the public sector rehabilitation and return-to-work programs is another tangible demonstration of our commitment to worker welfare and will drive further improvements in public sector injury management.
Of course, the Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations portfolio is not limited to the public sector. Its primary focus is to reduce the adverse health, social, productivity and economic impacts of work injury for all territory workers and the community in general. Towards that end, in 2016-17 we will work with industry to review the implementation of recommendations from the getting home safely inquiry into construction industry safety and adopt and promote best practice programs to improve the health, wellbeing and resilience of the territory’s workforce.
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