Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Improving the Comcare Scheme) Bill 2015: New Scheme for Federal Employees
Tuesday 30 June 2015 @ 12.10 p.m. | Legal Research
The Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cth) (the Act) establishes a scheme (the Comcare scheme) to provide compensation and rehabilitation support to injured Australian Government and Australian Capital Territory Government employees. The proposed changes to the Act by the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Improving the Comcare Scheme) Bill 2015 (the Bill) are an important step towards modernising a scheme that has not been comprehensively reformed since it was established in 1988.
Background to the Bill
The Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Improving the Comcare Scheme) Bill 2015 (the Bill) is an important step towards modernising a scheme that has not been comprehensively reformed since it was established in 1988. The Bill:
- implements, in part, recommendations of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act Review (the Review) by Mr Peter Hanks QC and Dr Allan Hawke AC commissioned by the former Government in 2012; and
- makes other changes to the Act which will improve the efficiency, cost effectiveness and viability of the Comcare scheme, and align parts of the scheme with State schemes.
The Bill aims to make the Comcare scheme sustainable over time. Broadly, the Bill:
- emphasises the vocational (rather than medical) nature of rehabilitation services and contains measures designed to improve return to work outcomes under the scheme;
- promotes fairness and equity in outcomes of injured employees by targeting support for those who need it most; and
- strengthens the integrity and viability of the scheme by clearly distinguishing between work and non-work related injuries, improving the quality of compensable medical treatment and support services, and limiting legal and medical costs under the scheme.
The amendments contained in the Bill are organised into 17 Schedules with each Schedule amending a different component of the Act with particular focus being on:
- Ensuring a stronger focus on rehabilitation and return to work;
- Targeted support for injured employees;
- Scheme integrity and viability; and
- A special focus on Australian Defence Force members with a new dedicated Part in the Act.
The Bill was introduced into the House of Representatives on 25 March 2015 and subsequently passed on 1 June 2015. It is currently being debated in the Senate, having been introduced on 15 June 2015.
Reactions to the Bill
Federal Employment Minister senator Eric Abetz said the Comcare scheme had failed to keep pace with changing times:
"Workplaces, working conditions, health and rehabilitation practices, and expectations, have all changed enormously since the act came into force 27 years ago...The scheme's original focus was compensating injured employees rather than assisting them to recover and return to work. We're updating the scheme in order to better assist employees rehabilitate and return to work."
However, ACTU Assistant Secretary Michael Borowick has said:
“The Comcare Bills are the Abbott Government’s gift to big business at the expense of injured workers...The Abbott Government should be focused on improving Comcare to be on par, or exceed current state and territory schemes that would increase protections for workers.”
Similarly, Andrew Stone from the Australian Lawyers Alliance said the legislation was all about cutting benefits to workers who are injured on the job:
"It is appalling that Senator Abetz picks one case [involving a woman who was injured while having sex on a work trip] and tries to demonise all workers because of it. The reason that case cost so much is that the Government chose to pursue it all the way through the appeals system whereas it would have cost them very little to just pay it up at the first instance. That case is not typical, and people suffer some horrific injuries at work and you don't go cutting everybody's benefits."
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Sources:
Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Improving the Comcare Scheme) Bill 2015 and secondary materials as reproduced on TimeBase LawOne
