Return to Work Scheme

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (14:35): A supplementary: can the minister tell us, of the 700-odd people who are still on the scheme and may lose their income entitlement come the end of the scheme, how many of those are paid emergency services workers, and what is being done to bring the paid and volunteer emergency service workers under the same provisions as SAPOL?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:35): Again, a very good question. I thank the member for Morphett for that question. The situation is that the figures that I have been quoting to the parliament are the figures which apply to the Return to Work scheme, which is a private insurance scheme which is wholly owned and operated by a government corporation, namely, the Return to Work Corporation. So, these are figures from essentially small and medium-sized businesses around South Australia who are insured with the Return to Work scheme.

It excludes some of the larger employers like the Coles and Woolworths of the world, for example, who are so big that they manage their own show internally. They are the self-insured group. It also excludes the government because the government is a self-insured body under the scheme. The short answer to the member for Morphett's question is that I will check this but, in my understanding of it, these figures do not include either the self-insured private sector group or the self-insured government group, so I would need to get further information.

As to the second part of the question the member asked, which is I think a question about insurance, that does pertain to a matter that is before the parliament, albeit in another place. If I am hearing the tom-toms correctly, it's likely to be heading back this way sometime soon or maybe not. That is a work in progress but, since the member has asked the question and I would very much like to answer the question as fully as I can, can I say that I see no good reason why the indisputable benefits of the Return to Work scheme, which have seen an improvement in the rate at which people who are injured at work get back to work successfully in the private sector, should not be shared with workers in other sectors, including the government sector.

I personally have been spoken to by a number of organisations representing groups in the government sector who have said to me that they would love to be in a position where they were in receipt of the sort of attention and support that people in the private sector have been in receipt of. I am very sympathetic to their point of view, and I can give the member for Morphett my assurance that I am contemplating everything I can to help them get the same positive outcomes as workers in the private sector have been enjoying now for the last couple of years.

The SPEAKER: Member for Bragg.