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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-07 Daily Xml
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WORKCOVER CORPORATION

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:43): My question is to the Premier. How is it that under his leadership the unfunded liability of WorkCover, injury rates, return-to-work rates, compensation funding ratios and claim disputes have significantly underperformed the outcomes achieved in other states during financial conditions common to each state?

Last week the government publicly claimed that the 35 per cent increase in WorkCover's unfunded liability to over $1.3 billion was due to the global financial crisis—which has affected all states—but, according to the most recent national comparison of compensation schemes conducted by the Australian Safety and Compensation Council, this state is the only state with an unfunded liability at all. South Australia has the highest rate of serious injury at 18 per 1,000 employees, South Australia is the only state or territory using the sole case manager model, South Australia is the only state or territory with a funding ratio less than 100 per cent, and South Australia has the second highest number of claims in dispute.

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development) (14:45): The simple fact is that the increase in the unfunded liability that we saw last week was a consequence of the economic times in which we find ourselves. In addition—I do not know, perhaps the leader's significant financial interests have performed better than anyone else's—I certainly know that anyone who has any money invested at this point in time in shares or cash is hurting very badly. This increase in unfunded liability was a consequence of the global financial crisis. The other points—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: Sir, I only hope that they are interjecting as much tomorrow, and that the fund will go extremely well, unlike some of the funds that are under investment at this point in time. I hope tomorrow they interject the same way.

The reason that this parliament passed legislation last year is amongst, most importantly, the reasons that were identified by the opposition leader. The simple fact is that we have not had a WorkCover scheme that has operated in, certainly, the best interests of injured workers. It has not operated, most certainly, in returning people to work. That is why, as I understand it, the significant majority—and we do not reflect on votes—of the opposition supported that legislative change.

We are yet to see the full impact of that legislative change, but we are certainly expecting that, amongst other things, it will address poor performance in return to work and simultaneously address the unfunded liability.

This parliament in the majority was committed to that legislative change, and we are yet to see the full effect of that legislative change. To say that the unfunded liability, which was announced last week, was a consequence of anything else other than the global financial crisis is not being fair, it is not being reasonable and, indeed, it is not a very honest opinion.

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