NSW Coalition's bold bid to postpone Labor's ‘rushed' workers comp reform

West Australian

3 days ago

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has accused the Coalition of seeking to delay controversial workers compensation reforms.
A revised plan to reform workers compensation passed a second reading in the lower house late on Tuesday night despite stiff opposition.
The NSW Liberals, Nationals, and the Greens voted against the Bill and proposed amendments that were one-by-one voted down by Labor MPs.
The bizarre coalition against the Bill was described as a 'divorce' for Labor and the Greens, the latter joining the Liberals and the state's unions in opposing the Bill.
Mr Mookhey told reporters on Wednesday that the Coalition would seek to have the Bill pushed back until August, well past the end of financial year and this year's budget.
'Obviously, we think that the Bill needs to be considered straight away,' the Treasurer said.
'The system is continuing to fail, the system is continuing to fall into weakness.
'It's continuing to fail employers, and it's not doing anything for the state as well.'
Mr Mookhey claimed every day of delay would cost the scheme and in turn injured workers and businesses facing rising premiums through the state's nominal insurer.
On the forthcoming budget, Mr Mookhey said the Bill's failure had already been accounted for after the Coalition claimed it was being rushed before the budget.
Mr Mookhey said Labor would continue to engage with the opposition, whose reforms he claimed would add $1.9bn in 'additional financial pressure' over four years.
The opposition has called for the state government to stay plans to lift the proposed threshold for permanent whole-person impairment (WPI).
Asked if the Liberal Party was 'on the side of the unions', shadow treasurer Daniel Tudehope said it was a 'bad way of characterising' their opposition to the Bill. 'We're on the on the side of good legislation,' Mr Tudehope told Sky News.
'The legislation which has been put before us is seeking to drive down the cost of workers compensation in NSW because of psychological injuries.
'A lot of the legislation we agree with … but there are some flash points in that legislation that we don't agree with, and it so happens that the unions agree with us.'
Under the proposal, a person with a permanent whole-person impairment would be required to meet a 30 per cent threshold – up from 21 per cent – to receive lifelong support.
Mr Tudehope said those people would be deprived of a 'better tomorrow' and the Coalition would seek to have the Bill subjected to a parliamentary inquiry.
For their part, Mr Mookhey and Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis claim the Bill with instil a 'culture of prevention' and address the beleaguered state self-insurer.
Mr Mookhey told an earlier parliamentary inquiry into the reforms that he would not authorise further cash injections to the Treasury Managed Fund, the state self-insurer.
Private businesses and charities are also facing a rise in premiums, which the Coalition says has been set at 8 per cent for next financial year.
Detractors, including NSW's unions, claim the changes to WPI would lock many psychologically injured workers out of support.
Mr Mookhey said those workers would instead have better access to a lump-sum payment that would keep them out of the workers compensation scheme long term.