The answer was never where others wanted to look.

I am often asked is it actually possible to resolve the issues created by and within the workers compensation concept and at the same time reduce the impact on the injured worker community. My answer has and will always be yes it is not just possible it is very doable.

Given that Australia is in Federal election season, and given no one is going to ask for my input I thought I would put my thoughts forward knowing that the usual suspects will read this and dismiss my thoughts out of hand. (some things never change)

Firstly it is important to "know" just what workers compensation is and understand what it isn't. Secondly it is important [as strange as it may seem] the concept of injured workers actually is not included within the workers compensation legislation. Then here is the really big one: thirdly we actually have no idea as to how many Australian identify themselves as belonging to the injured worker community. This issues is not one that will simply go away just because we know we don't know; this concern simply keeps growing because we admit we do not know. Fourthly tinkering with the various workers compensation legislations and hoping to improve the situations for the injured worker community is akin to pulling a bucket of water out of the ocean and expecting to see the sea level fall. Or in the words of the great philosopher Forrest Gump "Stupid is as stupid does."

Workers compensation is a State/Territory/Federal legislation requirement, it covers 11 different jurisdictions. It is a process that Regulators providers and employers are required to comply with. By default it is also a process that requires the injured worker community to enter into mutual agreement [once their claim is accepted] as framed by the workers compensation legislation. The Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissions legislations must also be complied with.

[The system requires and relies on people sustaining an injury in the workplace in order for the process to actually work.]

Currently there isn't any recognised framework that supports the injured worker community which forms the largest non-recognised community in Australia.

I accept that I have been talking about this for what feels like eons, and thus far scant few have bothered to actually look to see what I see day in day out so please indulge me a tad further.

For the injured worker community to be recognised as being "at risk" of any or all of the accepted societal concerns [suicide, homelessness, poverty in all its forms, domestic violence, intergenerational issues etc] we first require ACOSS [Australia Council of Social Services] to recognise the injured worker community. Next we require the ATO [Australian Tax Office] to accept the recognition from ACOSS. Then we require CentreLink to recognise the injured worker community and put in place a workers compensation version of the Healthcare Card. This card would then provide rent relief, reduced school fees and support for utilities, as well as allow the families to register their children with the various Christmas Giving Trees and access other community supports. [It still amazes me that industry providers do not understand that the injured worker community are excluded simply for the lack of a Healthcare Card][Injured workers are deemed to be fully employed according the the ATO thus they are not able to receive any assistance from Centrelink]

For all of this to happen there is a vital first step. That step is the creation of a non-Cabinet minister for the Injured Worker Community [a person is injured every 6 minutes around the clock or a guesstimated 87,500 Australians every year][87,500 is just the guesstimated accepted compensable claims, this number does not include the number of rejected or non-lodged claims] I would recommend that the minister be a Senator, as the Federal Senate is the House of the People.

Once the minister for Injured Workers is in place the minister then could appoint a Federal Commissioner to investigate and take concerns/complaints directly from the injured worker community. Complaints such as incorrect or non-payment of income, or non-explained pathology tests, or delays in making decisions- the list really is endless.

The Commissioner could also then investigate all the societal issues that are found within the injured worker community and make recommendations for the minister to Table in Parliament. Concerns such as the lack of superannuation payments which leave the injured workers vulnerable to real poverty, or cost shifting onto other Federal payments such as Medicare and Centrelink. The Commissioner would also be able to investigate employment security. -Strange as this may seem there are many members of the injured worker community who are able to return to the open workplace, however the overall employer simply cannot "place" them anywhere. It is pointless crying about a shortage of workers when we have an unknown number from the injured worker community who are not wanted back or supported to move elsewhere.

The minister could also require that a community support process be in place to enable all members of the injured worker community in whatever manner is required with the focus being on outcome and return to work. This would/must include a dedicated 24 hour phone line so that the people who need suicide support can speak with someone from the injured worker community who understands what pressure the caller is under. [The system will not openly discuss contemplated attempted completed suicide; however the system does offer counselling to the providers should they need support due to a member of the injured worker community ending their life by their own hands.][If you can understand and accept that then you are far stronger than I am]

What [in my humble opinion] this would do is over night shift the focus for each and every workers compensation jurisdiction and every workers compensation provider and every [reluctant] employer and the injured worker community to a full focus on returning to open employment.

A Federal minister could also require an explanation as to why recommendations that have been made over many years to enable the injured workers have been [polite version] ignored and if required put penalties in place that would bring into sharp focus the need for people to be returned to their pre-injury employer or onto a real post injury place of employment within an acceptable timeframe. Some of the recommendations go back to the early 1990's, discussed then dismissed as just too expensive for the system.

What this would do [in my humble opinion] would remove the number of injured workers being cost shifted onto the public purse via Centrelink and Medicare while at the same time strengthen the Australian GDP [Gross Domestic Product] simply because people would simply be back at work.

As an example the loss of just 1 cup of coffee a day over the 87.500 injured workers with the cost of a coffee set at $4.50 is $393,750 a day, times that by 345 [number of working days per year] and the total is $135,843,750 taken out of the economy because 87.500 people didn't buy a cup of coffee on their way to work. Add to that the other direct costs of going to work that are withdrawn from the economy and that number simply explodes. The indirect loss is massive. One cup of coffee a day uses 1 litre of milk a week, multiply that by the loss of 437,500 cups of coffee a week and then work out just how many tankers of milk goes down the drain.

My role within the injured worker community is to look at ways forward, the answer to resolving the concerns have never been within the workers compensation process, nor has any of the tinkering and alteration of spreadsheets and bottom-lines for the workers compensation providers ever been able to resolve the challenges.

I doubt that anyone other than the usual suspects will read this; before this is dismissed as a late Easter Saturday afternoon thought bubble, I have been pushing the need to create a non-Cabinet minister for a very long time. My preference would be as a stand alone minister with my second preference being that this new role come in under the current Social Service ministerial portfolio. We already know that SafeWork Australia has stated that the Australian workers compensation process is a $61.8billion a year industry and that the injured worker community pays 77% of the costs involved. [$47,586,000,000]

Thank you for reading this.

Yours in service

Rosemary