Page 5485 - Week 14 - Thursday, 30 November 2017
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When the royal commission hands down its report in December it may have specific recommendations relating to reportable conduct schemes and other aspects of keeping children safe in our community. I can assure the Assembly that the ACT government will be proactive in responding to any of the recommendations made. I thank members for their support of this legislation today.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.
Bill agreed to.
Correction
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (6.37), by leave: On Tuesday afternoon, in the debate about my motion on disallowance of a disallowable instrument, I referred to a page I had which had two tables on it. Unfortunately I referred to the first table and said $125 million. It should have been $12 million, so I correct the record today.
Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2017
Debate resumed from 31 October 2017, on motion by Ms Stephen-Smith:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MR WALL (Brindabella) (6.38): In the interests of everyone trying to get out of here tonight, I will keep this very short. The opposition will be supporting this legislation. We note that it makes a couple of sensible changes in adjusting the death benefit, the funeral expenses and the allowance paid to dependents of people that have the very unfortunate occurrence of dying in their workplace. We also note that the number of infectious diseases and occupation-related diseases is extended.
The opposition paid very close attention to the impact that the increase in these benefits had and also to the alignment of the bill to the change in the pension age being made by the commonwealth. We were very conscious of the impact that these changes would have on the premium costs for small businesses. We have weighed that up on balance. These costs are very minor and do provide appropriate coverage for employees.
However, we flag that the ACT continues to have one of the most expensive workers compensation schemes in the country and that solid work does need to be done going forward to make sure that our workers compensation premiums remain competitive with those over the border in New South Wales.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (6.39): The Greens also support this bill. It does modernise the ACT’s workers compensation scheme and it results in better overall compensation outcomes for workers. It makes several improvements. I will touch on a
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