What the Whitlam dismissal meant for workers’ compensation in Australia

The media is providing extensive coverage of the 50th anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam government on 11 November 1975. Shortly before that date, Australia came within a whisker of mirroring New Zealand and gaining a national no-fault accident compensation scheme. This would have provided: “.a national rehabilitation and compensation scheme for Australia so that …

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Audio summary of OHS and workers’ compensation article

In the latest 5-minute audio episode, I discuss the intersections of occupational health and safety (OHS) and workers’ compensation, inspired by a recent seminar on “Using Biopsychosocial Risk Profiling to Inform Claim Triage” by ISCRR. This episode explores the importance of integrating OHS findings into claim triage processes, the need for a more comprehensive understanding … Continue reading “Audio summary of OHS and workers’ compensation article”

Incident investigation and the triaging of workers’ compensation claims

Earlier this week, the Institute for Safety Compensation and Recovery Research (ISCRR) conducted a seminar called “Using Biopsychosocial Risk Profiling to Inform Claim Triage“. Workers’ compensation claims are not a focus for this blog, but attending events peripheral to one’s own discipline sometimes enlightens. There were a couple of moments when the occupational health and …

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Curious workers’ compensation claim

Recently, it was revealed that a senior leader of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), John Setka, has lodged a workers’ compensation claim alleging post-traumatic stress disorder related to his work. Setka (pictured above second from the left) is a controversial trade union and political figure, especially in Victoria, and anyone can lodge …

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Confrontation with PM involves workers’ compensation

Last week Australian media covered a confrontation between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and a pensioner, Ray, in Newcastle. Most of the coverage focused on Ray’s criticism of the commitments of the Morrison Government to support and reward those citizens willing to “have go”. The full 5-minute video provides a much better context to the man’s …

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No fanfare for Victoria’s workers’ compensation review

This week the Victorian Government released Peter Rozen‘s report called Improving the experience of injured workers: A review of WorkSafe Victoria’s management of complex workers’ compensation claims. The public release has been long anticipated as it has been sitting with the Minister for Workplace Safety, Ingrid Stitt, since April 2021. The Review was forced on …

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Give Duty of Care and Workers’ Compensation a good shake

At the2020 Australia and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine (ANZSOM) annual scientific meeting, Dr David Goddard spoke about “Regulation: when expectations go unmet”. In a wide-ranging presentation Goddard spoke of Australia’s occupational health and safety (OHS) laws touching on a couple of contentious governance issues: “…… Robens-inspired law introduced the employers’ general duty of …

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