Government relying on Latham for workers' compensation reforms
Maverick MP Mark Latham has indicated he is open to supporting the government's workers' compensation reforms, but only with a raft of amendments, while the Coalition hopes it can roll back a tightening of criteria for long-term payouts.
The public accountability and works committee received a confidential briefing from Treasurer Daniel Mookhey and bureaucrats on Thursday, aiming to allay concerns about the drivers of Labor's plan to curtail access to compensation for psychological injuries.
Two years after Premier Chris Minns refused to work with Latham, the dynamics of the seven-person committee have left the rogue MP with the casting vote on whether the legislation will return for a vote during budget week, in late June, or whether the inquiry continues indefinitely.
After the government's reforms were referred for a second interrogation by a parliamentary inquiry, their fate hinged in part on Thursday's briefing.
Mookhey has said that without reform the system will collapse while rising premiums push businesses under. But the Coalition, Greens and upper house independents have questioned government efforts to jam the legislation through parliament, particularly given a key plank of the reforms would cut off compensation for some of the state's sickest workers.
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The second inquiry was established to allow crossbenchers to interrogate assumptions underpinning Mookhey's reforms. A public hearing will take place on Tuesday, a month after a snap inquiry heard only 27 of the hundreds of employees impaired by workplace psychological injury each year would be eligible to claim long-term benefits under the minimum 31 per cent Whole of Person Impairment (WPI) rating proposed by the government.
Describing Thursday's briefing as 'fairly useful', Latham said some aspects of the workers' compensation reforms introduced by the Victorian Labor government in March 2024 were superior as they dealt with the long-term structural problem of nebulous claims, where the link between injury and a claimant's work is unclear.
While he would prefer the bill to be voted on by June's end, Latham said he would not rubber stamp the legislation, seeking to amend it to include the 'best of the Victorian reforms', including tightening definitions around bullying and harassment to restrict claims.
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