ALP's workers' compensation plan bad news for business: Minister

22/12/00

Labour Relations Minister Cheryl Edwardes said today that the ALP workers' compensation direction statement was an endorsement of the changes already being made to the system by the Coalition Government.
"This direction statement does not hold any fresh ideas that the State Government has not already examined or is already putting in place," Mrs Edwardes said.
"Clearly where the ALP has lost all commonsense is with plans to increase access to common law.
"The same move has been made by their mates in Victoria and their system is in crisis as it moves further and further into the red with enormous pressure on premium rates.
"Victorian businesses will eventually have to fund the difference between premium costs and premium payments to avoid a system meltdown and that will ultimately see businesses close and jobs lost.
"If you look around the country you will see that Governments in all jurisdictions have grappled with the issue of common law access. In Western Australia we are achieving a responsible balance between the statutory and common law aspects of compensation which are fair to injured workers and affordable for employers.
"In WA we have already experienced the problems for business and job creation of spiralling premiums and just as we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel the ALP is moving to blow premiums through the roof once more.
"This is not good for jobs in WA and it is certainly bad news for business."
Mrs Edwardes said the State Government had been systematically working through improvements to the system to ensure injured workers receive high quality medical and allied health services at an affordable cost to the workers' compensation system.
"I have moved immediately to improve the workers' compensation system in line with advice from two implementation task groups I set up six weeks ago," the Minister said.
"They have advised on the best way to implement recommendations from reviews into the system's medical and insurance areas."
The Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Commission will put in place the implementation program from the task groups, most of which can be made administratively while a few will be made through legislation.
In addition, an accountable regulatory authority is to be set up as an independent overseer of the workers' compensation system and to implement changes in this area.
"I will not be proceeding with a recommendation for the registration of doctors in the workers' compensation system," Mrs Edwardes said.
"However, an expert medical panel will be set up in conjunction with the Commission to deal with complex and specialised medical issues."
Changes to the insurance component of the workers' compensation system will include more effective regulation of insurers by the accountable regulatory authority, improved data, claims and performance management, more competition, greater transparency and justification of premiums.
Improvements to the medical portion of the system include defining treatment guidelines, developing educational strategies and developing a new data base to better track costs and treatment to improve the performance of all the system's stakeholders.
Negotiations are also under way with medical and allied health service provider groups to develop a transparent process for setting fees.
The Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Commission will work with the Medical Board of WA to examine over-servicing and fraud which may be identified in the system.
An expert medical working group will develop standard criteria to assess the degree of impairment suffered by injured workers. This will remove much of the existing confusion in determining an injured worker's level of incapacity.
"The State Government is committed to providing a workers' compensation system that is fair to employees and affordable for employers," Mrs Edwardes said.
"This was the basis of the Pearson Review in 1999 and these implementation plans will enhance delivery on the Government's commitment."
Media contact: Steve Manchee on 9421 7777