By Leslie Williams
Yet another government anti-worker bill is to go before the next Senate sitting. Industrial relations minister Peter Reith's amendments to the Commonwealth Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (SRC) Act are aimed at toughening rules for compensation for injuries and work-related diseases for Commonwealth public sector employees and ACT government workers.
The SRC was rejected by the Senate in July. It is expected that the government will rush it through the House of Representatives and send it back to the Senate.
The SRC applies to Comcare Australia, the Commonwealth and ACT governments' workers compensation insurer, which has until now operated largely on the principle of "no-fault" compensation covering any work-related injury or illness.
Reith's amendments aim to reduce premiums by changing the test of "material contribution" by work activity to one of "significant contribution" — making it the toughest of any compensation legislation in Australia.
The bill aims to reduce stress claims or other claims arising from "reasonable management action taken in a reasonable manner".
Comcare will be able to subject a worker who makes a claim to an investigation to determine whether the worker's private life contributed to a work-related accident or sickness. Currently, Comcare's powers are limited to investigation of suspected fraud.
For example, if a worker with industrial deafness and balance problems falls down the stairs at work, Comcare could argue that their enjoyment of loud rock music on weekends means they were going to have the accident, at some time, anyway.
Another example: a claim for asbestos-related cancer which arose from exposure years ago, when the OHAS standards were lower, would be rejected under the new act because management "acted reasonably" at the time.
The Senate Economics Legislation Committee in May noted: "The changes do not challenge the fact that the affected worker is injured — merely whether the worker is entitled to be paid compensation for the injury. Indeed, the changes do not even pretend to seek to distinguish between injured workers with regard to the extent or genuineness of the injury. They merely establish grounds for lawyers to argue against Commonwealth liability for the consequences of the injury."
Workers will have to use their sick leave or social security benefits, if eligible, and will be denied appropriate medical and health services, rehabilitation and retraining. Injured workers will have to rely on the public health system — already unable to cope with demand — and the cost will be transferred in part to Medicare and to state health systems.
Victoria, WA and NSW governments have already greatly reduced workers' entitlements to compensation. Now the Commonwealth is to follow suit, despite the fact that in economic terms there are no reasons to tighten the Comcare compensation scheme.
Comcare premiums are among the lowest of any government scheme, down from 1.7% of payroll in 1995-96 to 1.6% in 1996-97. All of Comcare's liabilities are fully funded.
The cuts proposed by Reith will mean that injured workers are subsidising reductions in the bosses' premiums.
There has not been much publicity given to this attack on compensation, and there has been little response from the Community and Public Sector Union or the ACTU. The union has concentrated on formally opposing the changes, while manoeuvring behind the scenes for more acceptable amendments.
Public sector employees have been asked to return a clip-off note to the Democrat senators urging them to vote against the changes. Perhaps the greatest scandal is that neither CPSU national officials nor the ACTU has recognised that the entire ACT government service will be affected.
Only the ACT CPSU branch has begun a serious campaign to oppose the amendments. It has also called on the ACT government to guarantee that workers in the public sector will maintain their current entitlements.
It remains to be seen whether the ACT Trades and Labour Council will coordinate united union action in defence of these basic rights. Some unions close to the ALP may find themselves compromised.
Reith has also cut funds to the National Occupational Health and Safety Council and Worksafe Australia, and took the task of formulating standards and codes of practice away from Worksafe. More than 500 fatalities and 176,000 work injuries occur every year in Australia.
The government has also launched an attack on the independent appeals processes. It plans to abolish the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and related tribunals such as the Social Security Appeals and the Veterans Review Board. Many legitimate claims are rejected by Comcare, only to be won on appeal in the AAT after lengthy delays.