Why Commonwealth? Because when John Howard was PM, he enticed employers such as
John Holland to flee to our national workers compensation and OHS scheme with the
promise of lower levels of compensation payments, union access and safety enforcement.
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard is overseeing a review of Comcare in the wake of this
mess.
Comcare was set up for Commonwealth public servants in 1988. John Howard oversaw its
expansion to, amongst others, transport and construction workers, two of the most seriously
injured groups of workers in our country.
Comcare is not equipped to look after the safety and compensation needs of blue collar workers like these.
This is borne out by the hard statistics: Comcare has 343,000 workers, 45 inspectors and
initiated 1 prosecution in 2006/07, whereas WorkSafe Victoria has 2.3 million workers, 225
inspectors and initiated 107 inspections in 2006/07.
The early feedback from workers and Unions is that despite the promises, Comcare does not
adopt a proactive nor collaborative approach to safety. In cases of serious injury, workers
and their Unions have been told that Comcare does not have to and will not consult them
about safety issues or breaches.
Late last year a Linfox transport worker sustained life threatening injuries after being trapped inside and pinned under a forklift for two hours. Ten months later neither he nor his Union knows what action, if any, Comcare will take against Linfox.
Comcare also fails to provide fair and just compensation. Justice Kirby noted as much in the
leading case in this area, stating that Comcare had 'distinct disadvantages' compared to the
compensation rights of injured workers under the Victorian WorkCover scheme.
If you are injured as a result of your employer's negligence and your employer has insured
under Comcare, the maximum you will be entitled to is $110,000 for your pain and suffering.
This compares to $484,830 under Victorian WorkCover for example.
You might say that no amount of money can ever compensate you if you suffer a serious
injury, particularly if you can't work again. I would agree with you. However it sure makes it
easier to attend to the essentials, like keeping up with your mortgage payments and putting
food on the table, things you would have been able to keep doing had you been able to keep
working.
And while Comcare promises a reduced wage to retirement age, schemes offering long-term
payments are unsustainable and invariably lead to cuts to worker benefits. Have a look at
what is currently going on in South Australia, or the former Victorian WorkCare scheme, or
even Comcare in the last days of the Howard government for proof of this.
It is no surprise that when Howard encouraged it, some employers went 'scheme shopping'
trying to reduce their costs. However when the Hawke/Keating government paved the way
for national employers to swap their insurance policy to Comcare, it was intended that
workers and employers have an equal say about whether to move. But this has been lost in
translation.
Justice Callinan noted '[t]he "choice" is the choice of the employer alone. It is [an]
... unconstitutional thing to say, that in consequence of that choice, employees not party to
the choice, who may have been wronged and injured by their employers, should become
disentitled to seek remedies and damages ... for which the State laws otherwise applicable
to them and their employers provide".
If the consent of workers and their Unions was required before a national employer could
swap to Comcare, OHS and compensation rights for injured workers would be given equal
status to the commercial decisions made by cost-cutting Board Directors and Company
Executives, and we would all have safer workplaces.
Blue collar workers have been caught up in John Howard's ideologically reckless dip into
workers compensation and OHS. They should be returned to or left in schemes with the skills
and resources to best prevent injuries, and where they occur, compensate them fairly. This
will ensure the highest safety and compensation standards for all Australian workers.
Liberty Sanger - Principal, Maurice Blackburn lawyers
National Secretary: Paul Howes