AUSTRALIA | Workers across New South Wales have called for better compensation and immediate reforms within disability support and aged care sectors.
Disability and aged care service providers have called for urgent action to reform NSW’s failing workers compensation system, with some fearing they are just a claim away from closing their doors on some of the state’s most vulnerable people.
The NSW Government has convened a roundtable at the request of providers to hear from more than twenty organisations who report that soaring premiums and delayed action are forcing them to make tough choices about the communities they serve.
One provider in Western Sydney said an 800 percent hike in premiums over the past five years is threatening its ability to continue disability and aged care services.
Others report having to divert funds from their disability support programs to pay premiums, and in one case, a provider has relocated part of its office to a family home to save on costs.
The sector has implored the NSW Government to take urgent action to address the rise in psychological injuries and create a sustainable system.
Disability service providers have met with Premier Chris Minns, Treasurer Daniel Mookhey and Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis to voice their concerns about any further delay on reform.
The Minns Labor Government’s workers compensation reform package passed the Legislative Assembly in early June, before being delayed by the Liberal Party which has teamed up with Mark Latham and the Greens to block progress.
Analysis by icare has shown co-authored amendments by Shadow Treasurer Damien Tudehope and Mark Latham would cut off almost all victims of harassment, bullying and vicarious trauma from support, and still deliver higher premiums to NSW businesses.
The Government said that every day that Tudehope and Latham continue to block reform, the workers compensation system deteriorates further.
Just 50 percent of workers with a psychological injury can return to work within a year, compared to 95 percent of workers with a physical injury.
The private sector scheme is going backwards by AUD 6 million per day. It is soon expected to hold only 80 cents in assets for every dollar it will have to pay in claims.
Absent reform, 340,000 NSW businesses will have to pay a 36 percent increase in premiums over the next three years even if they have no claims against them.
“Providers who care for some of our most vulnerable citizens are telling us they can’t keep going under the strain of this broken system. Every day that reform is delayed, the system is only deteriorating further,” said NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey.
“The sooner we enact reform, the sooner we can get on with preventing psychological injuries in the workplace, rather than simply compensating for injuries which could have been avoided.”
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