WorkCover runs second to self-insured employers
WorkCover should take a leaf out of the book of self-insured employers, Industrial Relations Minister John Rau said yesterday.
In a signal of the type of organisation he would prefer to the current model (which he described last week as “buggered’), Rau pointed to the systems used by large organisations who run their own workers’ compensation schemes, rather than rely on the State-owned WorkCover.
Rau also unveiled a new-look board that combined some new elements with several re-appointments.
Rau told parliament yesterday injured workers managed by WorkCover’s claims agents took longer to return to work than similar cases managed by self-insured employers.
“The longer it takes for an injured person to be actively assisted either by way of having training, or some medical treatment, or some notification of their work arrangements, or being offered alternative duties, the longer you take between the time of the injury and the time of that happening the worst probable outcome is for that individual,” Rau said.
“That is obvious and all the statistics—every piece of information I have ever seen—points in that direction.
“It seems to me that claims managers or WorkCover or anybody else who is doing that as a third party intervention into another work place historically has not had the same focus and the same energy committed to that task as the individual employer that is big enough to have their own internal systems designed to help their own workforce.”
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Rau pointed to the Local Government Association as an example of how the system should work.
“When we get around to people like the Local Government Association, they have the capacity to say, ‘Look, you have been injured in my council, I haven’t got a job for you but here you are, you go over to this bloke over here and he’ll look after you for a while.’ They are very good at that, but then again they can be.
“A large number of larger employers have exited the scheme by coming within the definition or the capability of being a self-insured operator.
“They do that for a number of reasons, one of which is that they think they will do better out of it.
“The scheme becomes a residual scheme full of the less better-performing people.
“The challenge is—and it is one that I have indicated several times we are addressing—is how to improve that outcome.
“But the critical thing is early intervention, early case management, and effective case management in the workplace of the individual worker.”
Rau unveiled WorkCover’s new board yesterday, claiming it “represents a fundamental change to the way in which the scheme will operate”.
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Three current members of the WorkCover Board will be reappointed, effective from today.
One of the three continuing members, Jane Yuile, is the new Chair, replacing Philip Bentley.
Yuile is the Chair of ANZ South Australia, and a member of the boards of Built Environs and the South Australian Film Corporation.
Current members Joanne Denley and union boss Peter Malinauskas were also reappointed.
The four new members are trauma surgeon Dr Bill Griggs, PriceWaterhouseCoopers director Chris Latham, BusinessSA CEO Nigel McBride and South Australian Financing Authority director Yvonne Sneddon.
“These appointments will place the scheme on a commercial footing,” Rau said.
The State Opposition labelled the appointment of union heavyweight Malinauskas as “jobs for the kingmaker”.
“Minister Rau said WorkCover was buggered, poorly administered, had to be decommissioned, was the most expensive scheme in Australia and had the worst return to work rate for injured workers in Australia, and yet has reappointed Mr Malinauskas, who has been on the board while WorkCover has deteriorated,” Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Iain Evans said.
“The public will see this for what it is – this is not just a case of jobs for the boys, this is a job for the kingmaker.
“It seems that after Mr Malinauskas tapped Mr Rann on the shoulder, no-one’s prepared to tell Mr Malinauksas it’s time to go.
“It is unbelievable that at a time when WorkCover is facing a crisis and the Minister responsible for WorkCover says the scheme is “buggered”, that the Government’s solution is to continue reappoint a ‘Labor mate’ to the board.”
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