Latest news with #psychologicalinjury
ABC News
a day ago
- Business
- ABC News
NSW workers' compensation reforms delayed as bill referred for second inquiry
The NSW Coalition has sided with unions to delay the Labor government's workers' compensation reforms over a measure that would have made it harder to claim long-term compensation for psychological injuries. The Opposition and the Greens teamed up in the state's upper house on Thursday to refer the Minns government's bill to a second parliamentary inquiry. The Public Accountability and Works Committee will now be required to table a report on the bill at a later date. During the debate in the upper house, Treasurer Daniel Mookhey argued that the "unnecessary" delay would cost the private sector at least $5 million a day. One measure of the bill, which proved to be the sticking point for the Coalition, was the proposal to double the Whole Person Impairment (WPI) threshold from 15 to 31 per cent. This would have made it significantly harder for workers to claim ongoing support for a psychological injury beyond two-and-a-half years. The unions opposed the proposition and found themselves an unlikely ally in the NSW Liberal Party leader Mark Speakman, who resisted calls from major business lobby groups to urgently pass the bill. Mr Speakman said the Coalition would have supported the bill if several proposed amendments were adopted, including maintaining the threshold at 15 per cent. "We think that is a drastic measure that will punish the most severely affected workers, so we don't want to see that threshold raised," he told ABC Radio Sydney. "We want to see premiums driven down, they are becoming unaffordable for small business, but we think there are fairer ways of doing it." According to the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, psychological injury claims increased by 64 per cent over four years, from 5,616 in 2019-20 to 9,195 in 2023-24. Mr Mookhey claimed that without the reforms, premiums paid by businesses would increase by 36 per cent over three years to 2028, costing businesses more than $1 billion a year. "The opportunity we will miss is to fundamentally begin repairing a system everyone acknowledges is broken," Mr Mookhey said during the debate in the upper house. "For the 340,000 businesses that pay into this scheme, the opportunity we will miss … is to give them certainty about what's going to happen to their most significant costs and significant causes of anxiety." During the debate, Shadow Treasurer Damien Tudehope acknowledged that "the treasurer and I seemed to have swapped friends". Earlier on Thursday, Premier Chris Minns said during Question Time that the Coalition was being "misled" about the possible impact of the measure. "The truth is the Coalition's amendments would gut the bill," Mr Minns said. The bill had cleared the lower house with some minor amendments on Monday night. Last month, the government softened parts of the bill after fierce backlash from unions and concerns raised by medical professionals and lawyers during an inquiry.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Setback for Minns government as controversial workers' compensation bill sent to inquiry
A controversial bill to curtail workers' compensation claims for psychological injuries incurred by New South Wales workers will be sent to a parliamentary inquiry, after cross benchers and the Coalition banded together to force the inquiry. The independent Mark Latham moved for a relatively swift inquiry, with the date of reporting to be set by the chair of the inquiry, once the scope of evidence is known. The move is a setback for the Minns Labor government, which released the workers' compensation bill a week ago, insisting it was extremely urgent and needed to be passed this week. The state treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, who opposed the inquiry, said NSW's compensation scheme was running a $5m deficit every day. The full impact of growth in claims for psychological injury by public sector workers will be evident on 24 June when the state budget is delivered. Mookhey said this week there had been a $2bn deterioration in the Treasury managed fund which pays for public servants' claims. He's also warned that premiums for business will need to rise by 36% in the next three years. 'No employers should have to worry about the sustainability of the scheme,' he said. 'If we delay further the task gets harder.' The government's bill would lift the threshold for whole of person impairment from 20% to 30%, limiting their compensation to payments to 2.5 years. It has been heavily criticised by the union movement and medical and legal experts who say that the threshold is too high, and will leave workers who are unable to function without the financial support they need. The opposition wants the threshold left as it is, but offered amendments to definitions of bullying and other aspects of the bill, which it said would deliver more modest savings. Greens MLC Abigail Boyd, who is chair of the public accounts committee, said the government had committed 'a complete breach of trust' by blurring the impact on various government accounts and failing to produce the modelling that would allow members to assess the impact of the scheme. 'I don't like being misled,' Boyd said. 'The treasurer has deliberately confused the nominal fund and the Treasury managed fund,' she said. She accused Mookhey of being driven by concerns over the state's AAA rating at the expense of injured workers. 'It is not melodramatic to talk about life and death.' Five people committed suicide after the 2012 changes that were later reversed, she said. 'These are the most cruel and dangerous of reforms. If you think as I do that this will cost lives, then I urge you to support an inquiry,' she said. The inquiry is expected to begin as soon as possible, with Mookhey indicating he wants to pass the bill in the budget sittings of parliament. The committee will meet next week, will be chaired by Boyd and include Latham, and Coalition MLCs Damien Tudehope, Sarah Mitchell. The government will nominate three members. The Treasurer has publicly indicated his willingness to cooperate.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Chris Minns warns of $2bn budget hole if bill curtailing psychological injury claims fails
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has warned a failure to pass his controversial workers compensation legislation would blow a $2bn hole in the state budget as Labor seeks to woo a coalition of conservative crossbenchers to pass the bill. In parliament, the premier said if the changes to curtail psychological injury claims did not go through, an additional $2bn would be required from NSW taxpayers to fund the public service portion of the scheme. He also warned that businesses would see premiums rise by 36% over three years to fund the scheme for the private sector. Sources have told Guardian Australia that there was intensive lobbying of upper house MPs from the Shooters and Fishers party and other right-leaning MPs, including former One Nation MPs Mark Latham and Rod Roberts, Legalise Cannabis MP Jeremy Buckingham and Libertarian MP John Ruddick. The opposition will move on Thursday to send the complex bill to an inquiry. Opposition leader Mark Speakman described it as 'unconscionable' and 'cruel'. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The opposition wants the status quo of 15% impairment to qualify for compensation, instead of the 30% that the government is proposing. He said the opposition had offered amendments that would yield some savings, such as tightening definitions of psychological injury due to bullying, or 'unworkable' claims due to 'excessive work demands', but the Coalition would not budge on the impairment threshold. A 15% impairment means a person struggles with daily tasks and requires reminders about their hygiene needs. Experts have said that a 30% impairment was so high that it would make it virtually impossible for people to ever claim for psychological injury. The high-stakes game will play out on Thursday. The shadow treasurer, Damien Tudehope, warned that the government was seeking to cajole the crossbench with offerings in other policy areas that were important to them. The public had strong views about the ethics of this approach, he said. Two days before the government released its workers compensation legislation, Minns surprised many by indicating support for a bounty scheme proposed by the Shooters party in its conservation hunting bill to control feral animals. The bill would create a new conservation hunting authority and proposes a raft of changes, including enshrining a 'right to hunt' and recognition of hunting as a conservation management tool. Minns has previously denied there was any deal with the Shooters for support of other legislation. Conservation groups and scientists have condemned the hunting proposal as ineffective and a waste of taxpayer dollars. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion As debate on the bill began in the upper house on Wednesday, the scientist-led Biodiversity Council wrote to MPs warning that the legislation, if passed in its current form, would 'undermine invasive species management across the state, leading to poorer outcomes for the environment and agriculture'. Conservationists are concerned the bill will become a vehicle for promoting the interests of recreational hunting and management of invasive species as game rather than driving down feral animal numbers with control programs. The Invasive Species Council and other groups have also expressed concern that the proposed authority bears similarities to the defunct Game Council, which was abolished in 2013, and that hunting interests would dominate the authority's proposed voting structure. 'Recreational hunting is not conservation. It rarely delivers environmental benefits, and in many cases actively obstructs professional control programs,' the council's chief executive, Jack Gough, said. There also appear to be moves afoot to provide an exception for motorists who test positive when using medical marijuana, a policy that both Buckingham and the Greens have pushed. Unions, legal and medical experts have strongly criticised the government's attempts to curtail claims for psychological injury, warning that a 30% threshold would make it virtually impossible for people to make claims. They have urged the government to first focus on prevention and educating employers about handling psychosocial injuries, rather than cutting off compensation. The Unions NSW secretary, Mark Morey, said the result would be simply to cost shift on to the welfare and health systems. Compensation for injured public servants comes out of the Treasury Managed Fund (TMF), which is already under enormous pressure due to natural disaster funding in the last year. The full extent of the fund's deterioration will be revealed in the budget on 24 June.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
NSW Coalition and unions unlikely allies against Labor's ‘nasty laws' to curtail workers' compensation claims
The New South Wales opposition and the union movement have become unlikely allies in opposing the central plank of the Minns government's 'nasty laws' to curtail workers' compensation claims for psychological injuries. The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, said on Tuesday he would be pushing for the status quo of 15% impairment as the level of injury that would trigger compensation. He wants amendments or a parliamentary inquiry. The government wants to lift the threshold to 30%, a move which has been widely condemned by unions and legal and medical experts, who say it would make it virtually impossible to receive compensation for psychological injury. 'The opposition will support the bill, but with sensible amendments, we want a scheme that is sustainable, that is fair to workers, fair to business, but does not unduly punish the most severely injured workers, which is what the Minns Labor government is doing,' Speakman said. The crossbench also has serious concerns about the legislation in its current form, making its path through parliament uncertain. Speakman said while he supported the push for lower premiums for NSW businesses, he argued changes had to be made on the basis of sound modelling and information. He denied there was urgency because he said the 2025-26 premiums had already been set. The government introduced its controversial changes to the state's workers' compensation scheme in a bill this week, arguing that unless claims for psychological injuries were reined in premiums for business would rise by 36% and the scheme would falter. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Since the Covid-19 pandemic there had been a sharp rise in claims for psychological injuries attributable to repeated exposure to trauma, bullying, harassment and excessive work loads. The opposition's stance was welcomed by the Unions NSW secretary, Mark Morey, who said 'the proposal that Labor's putting up is just going to wipe out any mental health support for workers'. Morey told Guardian Australia that 'a worker at the 15% threshold can't go to work, finds it difficult to go outside, has to be reminded about their personal hygiene, and that they've got to care for their kids'. 'We've seen very few people over 30% [impairment]. There are some cases, but very few that we've been told, and the vast bulk of cases have been between 15 and 20%,' he said. The result of Labor's bill would be a lack of support for workers who would be pushed on to welfare payments and the mental health system, he said. The shadow treasurer, Damien Tudehope, said an earlier inquiry had been told that only 27 cases had recorded impairment of 30%. The opposition health spokesperson, Kellie Sloane, said the changes would disproportionately affect nurses and health workers. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'What Labor is saying to nurses is you're on your own if you are injured in their workplace,' she said. 'These are bad laws, they are mean and they are nasty,' she said. Morey said he had pushed the government to start with a major effort on prevention such as managing exposure to trauma, bullying, harassment and excessive work demands, then look at the compensation scheme. In response to the rising tide of criticism, the government has in recent days made changes to the process for claiming injury by introducing a fast track for injuries resulting from bullying and harassment with more limited payouts. The government will either need to negotiate more changes or agree to send it to another parliamentary committee, with many of the crossbench already indicating their concerns. In question time, the opposition targeted government ministers who had previously spoken out about attempts to cut payouts under the scheme, quoting their criticisms of cuts back at them. The government has said it needs to make these changes to keep the workers' compensation scheme sustainable. About 95% of people who claim physical injuries are back at work within one year. However, less than 50% with psychological injuries return within a year, which the government says puts a huge burden on the scheme. In NSW the scheme offers lifetime support. The government will also need to disclose the impact of rising psychological claims for its own employees – nurses, teachers, paramedics police and public servants – in the state budget on 24 June. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Are your promises worth anything?': Fiery clash in NSW parliament over controversial workers comp reform
NSW's workplace tsar has been accused of breaking a promise over workers compensation reforms in a furious clash in parliament. A revised proposal to reform workers compensation, specifically psychological injuries claims, was tabled last week by Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis. Ms Cotsis said the compensation plan sought to instil a 'culture of prevention' in the scheme, and give clarity to employers on their rights and responsibilities. Detractors argue the changes would lock many out of receiving damages – namely a new 30 per cent threshold for permanent impairment due to psychological injury. While the Opposition is yet to formally announce its position on the bill, Liberal leader Mark Speakman questioned Ms Cotsis on Tuesday morning over the threshold. Mr Speakman claimed during question time that Ms Cotsis had pledged to remove the provision – known as Section 39 – altogether prior to the 2023 state election. 'Are your promises worth anything?' Mr Speakman asked, sparking shouting across the chamber. In the fiery exchange that ensued, Ms Cotsis shot back that she was 'more of a worker's friend than the Leader of the Opposition (is)'. 'Where were you when people died under your watch?,' Ms Cotsis said, referencing the former Coalition government. 'Where were you when review after review came out and said that you needed to fix work health and safety? You were nowhere.' Police Minister Yasmin Catley, Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison, and Building Minister Anoulack Chanthivong were all also grilled over their position on Section 39. 'I'm delighted to always get a question about workers in this place,' Mr Chanthivong said. 'Because there's only one party in this parliament to speak when it comes to workers – its actually us'. The planned reforms have stirred controversy since they were first introduced earlier this year, with support from some of the businesses community. The state's unions, including the NSW Teachers Federation, Unions NSW, and the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, have instead opposed the bill. Their members rallied outside parliament earlier this month, calling on the government to reconsider the plan and to engage with the unions. In tabling the bill last month, Ms Cotsis noted amendments had been made since its first iteration and that a tripartite review committee would be established, including Unions NSW. The bill also seeks to address the NSW government's bottom-line, with Treasurer Daniel Moohkey ruling out any further payments to the state's self-insurer. Business leaders told a parliamentary inquiry into the bill earlier this year that insurance premiums to businesses and charities had seen their premiums increase. Treasury modelling released by the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday warned business and not-for-profits may be forced to fork out an extra $1bn per year if reforms aren't made. A separate bill seeking to amend workplace health and safety legislation was also tabled in NSW parliament.
