Workers Compensation

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:28): I seek leave to make an explanation prior to directing a question to the Minister for Police on the subject of workers compensation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: On 31 October last year, cabinet took a decision to transfer the management of all new workers compensation claims from 1 July this year to ReturnToWorkSA. A copy of a confidential report was presented to cabinet. It was entitled 'Review of the management of work injuries within the SA government'. It was authored by Phillip Bentley and Chris Latham and dated 21 June 2016. In that report, in the executive summary, it said, and I quote:

Changes made to the operations of the Office for the Public Sector since 2013 are seen by agencies as detrimental. They have led to a lack of strategic report to agencies.

Further on in the body of the report, under the heading 'Office for the Public Sector', the report says, and I quote:

The Office for the Public Sector has a responsibility to oversee the claims management performance, coupled with its focus on the public sector workforce. Up to 2013 OPS appeared to have a strong focus on providing advice and strategic support to agencies in the area of claims management.

Due to significant budget constraints in 2012 onwards, the following changes occurred: significant reductions in OPS staff, down from 20 full-time equivalents to 9 full-time equivalents; a cabinet decision on 9 September 2013 to establish its own evaluation approach to oversee claims management practices performance with the requirements of the workers rehabilitation and compensation scheme.

My questions to the Minister for Police are:

1. Were any of the agencies that report to the minister amongst those that expressed concerns to Mr Bentley and Mr Latham?

2. In particular, were the changes made to the operations of the OPS since 2013 seen by those agencies that report to this minister as detrimental?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:30): This is now becoming a consistent theme of questions that the Hon. Mr Lucas seems to be asking regarding the state government's commitment to reforming workers compensation in this state, something that I think the government has a very good record on. I am more than happy to make the inquiries necessary to be able to inform Mr Lucas's question, but the repeated nature of the Hon. Mr Lucas's questions regarding workers compensation starts to suggest, or seems to imply, that he has grave reservations about, or at worst fundamental opposition to, the government seeking to improve the way workers compensation claims are managed on behalf of those people who are in the employ of the state.

That would be a rather concerning position for the Hon. Mr Lucas to have, when people on this side of the chamber are absolutely committed to making sure that people who are injured while working for the state, whether they be in SAPOL or other agencies across government, have their injury treated in such a way that gets them back to work as soon as possible, which of course is not just in the interests of the workers themselves, but also in the interests of the government generally, because they can represent a more efficient, more productive way of dealing with workers compensation claims. That being said, notwithstanding what is starting to amount to what appears to be opposition on behalf of the Hon. Mr Lucas, I will make the relevant inquiries for him and see if I can get the information he asked for.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: You're a very sensitive soul, aren't you?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: Thank you very much.