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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-07-06 Daily Xml
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Personal Explanation

Return To Work (Scheme Sustainability) Amendment Bill

The Hon. C. BONAROS (17:58): I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: My personal explanation relates specifically to the bill and the message that has just come back. In the flurry of activity late yesterday evening, whilst I was talking to the minister, engrossed in a conversation with the minister, I missed the third reading of the return to work bill and the opportunity to speak at the third reading of that bill. I did not realise we had moved into the third reading so quickly, given the conversation that I was having with the minister at the time, and the opportunity had been lost.

Given that we are now considering the message from the lower house, I want to place on the record SA-Best's formal position on the bill. What we did yesterday was, as I said, to make a terrible bill better. Personally, given the options put to us and the numbers in this place, I did not feel that we had much choice, especially in light of the very dire consequences of potentially losing the Summerfield precedent and the advice provided to government on that front.

That said, there were, and continue to be, elements of what was proposed yesterday, such as the transitional provisions, the retrospective application, the 35 per cent threshold and, indeed, the process, that SA-Best cannot in good conscience put our names to. The same can also be said for the deeply flawed process around the making of that piece of legislation.

There is no doubt in my mind that the bill that was passed will, despite the best of intentions, result in a mountain of legal challenges and uncertainty and miss the mark in terms of policy intent overall when it comes to premiums. I do not want that to be the outcome, but that is certainly the views that have been relayed to me, and I hold grave concerns that we will be back here, one way or another, with more bandaid fixes unless and until this government and this parliament have the intestinal fortitude to deal with a systemic holistic approach to the Return to Work scheme.

In a nutshell, my view is that if we think we have fixed WorkCover then we are absolutely kidding ourselves. Whilst we moved heaven and earth—and believe me, we did move heaven and earth collectively over the last four weeks—to make a terrible bill a better bill, at no point have I signalled our support for the overall passage of this bill and the process, and we remain opposed to the bill overall.

With the chamber's indulgence, I would also like to take this opportunity during my personal explanation to thank stakeholders, the members of the legal profession, injured workers' advocates, the unions and everybody who has been involved, for their work and assistance on the amendments and on a better appreciation on our part of this bill. I would like in particular to thank the Law Society, the ALA and Lawyers for Workers.

If I can name one person in particular, that is barrister Ms Eloise Theodore, who has provided countless hours of advice, not just to me but to absolutely all members of this place and the other place who have availed themselves of the opportunity to understand how our WorkCover scheme works in practice and what the practical application and ramifications and, indeed, adverse implications of the existing laws and both bills introduced in this place look like on a day-to-day basis.

In my view, that aspect of what we do in here compared to how these laws apply in the real world and the effects they have is always what is lacking in these debates and I cannot emphasise enough the importance of that advice in the context of what we do in this place, so I thank Ms Theodore.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Bonaros, you sought leave to make a personal explanation. You have made your personal explanation. This is not a second reading speech. Please bring it to a conclusion. You have had the leave of the council. We have been indulgent, but bring it to a conclusion, please.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: Thank you, Mr President. I was about to do that. I was about to end by saying that it should not fall on those professions to advise members of this place how to do their job, but unfortunately that is the position we often find ourselves in. I reiterate for the record that when it comes to the passage of this bill there should be absolutely no mistake that our position was to make a worse bill better. I indicate that the bill does not have the support of SA-Best.


At 18:04 the council adjourned until Thursday 7 July 2022 at 11:00.

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