House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-12 Daily Xml

Contents

WORKCOVER CORPORATION

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:00): In light of the minister's answer, has the minister sought any advice on the unfunded liability?

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (15:00): What I can tell the honourable member, and indeed the house, is that since I was provided the privilege of becoming this state's industrial relations minister I have sought an enormous amount of advice from WorkCover on a range of matters. What I would say—and it is a point that needs to be reinforced—is that for a variety of reasons the system that is WorkCover failed in its mission. How did it fail in its mission? It failed in its mission to return people to work. My focus and this government's focus—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: Well, you were part of the process of setting it up. Sir, she has already been warned a couple of times.

The SPEAKER: Order! The deputy leader will come to order.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Thank you, sir. What I would say is that it is a matter on which I hope we would get bipartisan support—although I might not expect it from the deputy leader. The focus for the government, employers and this state needs to be on returning injured workers to meaningful work.