PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION: VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION AND RETURN TO WORK PRACTICES

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (16:11): I move:

That the Erratum to the 13^th report of the committee, on Vocational Rehabilitation and Return to Work Practices for Injured Workers in South Australia, be noted.

The reason for this erratum is that I noticed over the break that there was an unfortunate mistake in our report, located on page 16. There was an error in line nine, column three in one of our tables and, sadly, it does not reflect very well on the worker's compensation scheme because it talks about the duration of claims across different stages and, in fact, the results are much worse than what we had in our report. It was really a typographical error.

The figures show that there has been an increase in the average claims across stages, with the most marked increase being 0 to 26 weeks time period which went from an average claim of 51 days in 2001-02 to 61 days in 2010-11. There is also a quote that was miscalculated from Dr Purse where Dr Purse commented in evidence how claims statistics reflect the overall health of the worker's compensation scheme. The quote is:

...if you can reduce the duration of claims, you can reduce the cost of the scheme, and you do that in a positive way in which it benefits workers, people who would otherwise would perhaps be left on the scrap heap, and you are also doing it in a way which benefits employers because, if you can reduce their costs, you can reduce the average premium rate for employers.

I think it was important to highlight that mistake, hence I hope that our erratum will be accepted.

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (16:13): I rise to speak in support of the Chair of the committee, the Hon. Steph Key, in relation to this erratum. I noted all those corrections and I don't think I will need to spell them out again, but I rise to say that they were just an oversight and it is good that we have put the record straight on this occasion. I want to say how much I enjoy my attendance at those meetings. Some of them are a bit over my head, but it is certainly a very rapid learning curve for me, particularly in these areas of our society that I would not normally be involved with. I also enjoy the chairmanship of the Hon. Steph Key.

Motion carried.