Instead of protecting workers, the NSW Government is slashing their compensation

Today in Parliament, Abigail condemned the NSW Labor Government’s proposed workers compensation cuts as a cruel cost-saving measure that will leave countless injured workers without the support they need, while failing to address the real issue—unsafe workplaces, particularly in the public sector.

Abigail said:

Some details of the New South Wales Labor Government's cruel plans to slash workers compensation entitlements in pursuit of budget savings have now been dragged out into the daylight. We all understand and accept that our workers compensation system is in need of reform, but the Government is currently depriving us all of the ability to meaningfully consult and contribute to that reform and is using deliberately misleading messaging in the scant communications it does make. Across the board in New South Wales, claims for workers compensation are up. More workers are being injured in New South Wales today than 10 years ago, five years ago or even two years ago.

Psychological injury claims have increased, but the overwhelming majority of the volume of additional claims on the workers compensation system have been and continue to be physical injuries. Workers with claims for psychological injuries suffered at work are off work for too long, but for 40 per cent of workers who leave work due to a work‑related psychological injury, it is the fault of their employer—usually a government agency—that has failed to make the necessary changes after 12 months to provide a psychologically safe environment for them to return to work.

The proposal being floated by the New South Wales Labor Government is not to reform workplaces and help injured workers return to work; it is to prevent workers from entering the scheme in the first place. That is a needlessly cruel policy twice over. Vast numbers of workers will be denied the help they need in the first instance and those who do make it onto the scheme will be left to languish in a workers compensation system incapable of helping them back into work. The Government is arguing that the increase in psychological injury claims is putting unreasonable pressure on small businesses through their premiums. But look at the data and you see that is not strictly the truth. Premiums as a percentage of wages have remained steady for the past 10 years.

The New South Wales Labor Government is using small businesses as a fig leaf to cover the true source of injured workers in this State: the New South Wales Government itself. Responsible for only 8 per cent of workers, the New South Wales Government is delivering over 40 per cent of all psychological injury claims. Those injured workers are teachers, nurses, paramedics, community sector workers, child protection workers, police and Corrective Services workers. The Government's plan is to continue injuring its own workers, raise the drawbridge behind them and rip away their access to compensation.

Which claims does the Treasurer want to reject: the psychological injury claims for public sector workers that are a result of workplace violence, or those due to exposure to a traumatic event, or those directly attributable to work intensification? Those claims make up the clear majority of psychological injuries. The reforms are too important and consequential to the lives and wellbeing of the State's four million workers to be rushed through without rigorous scrutiny and appropriate time. We are talking about people's lives, not just a budget bottom line. I call on the Treasurer to stop, slow down, really consult and treat this Parliament and the working people of this State with respect and dignity.

Read the transcript in Hansard here.

19 March 2025

A UNIVERSAL WELLBEING PAYMENT FOR NSW

No matter who you are or what you do, everyone has the right to share in the wellbeing of our country.

But at the moment the essentials so many of us need – a place to call home, food on the table, and everyday essentials like electricity, internet, medicine and water – are simply out of reach.

Instead of supporting us, our government is choosing to prop up huge corporations with massive subsidies, and to give away our collective wealth through record tax cuts for the wealthy. Meanwhile, the rest of us are left to live paycheck to paycheck or trapped in the dehumanising bureaucracy of our existing welfare system.

Now, in the midst of a pandemic, and following quickly on the heels of the bushfire crisis, more of us than ever before are experiencing what it’s like to lose our jobs, be without a home, or worry about where the food for our next meal will come from.

It’s time for us to choose to prioritise the wellbeing of everyone.

And that’s exactly what the Universal Wellbeing Payment will do.

It’s a regular payment made to each of us to ensure our minimum standard of wellbeing. No means testing, no bureaucracy, no strings attached.

It’s the amount you’re owed simply for being a participant in our society.

It means you are free to live your life and contribute to society as you see fit, whether you’re a carer, an artist, a student, a parent, an entrepreneur – you can get on with what you need to do, knowing that you will always be supported regardless of your income.

It means that we’re choosing to structure our economy for the benefit of all of us, not using our collective wealth to prop up the interests of big business and the wealthy few.

It means you will always have what you need to live a good life, no matter what.

The Universal Wellbeing Payment is for everyone. Help us make it happen.

For more information, head to universalwellbeingpayment.com.au

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Instead of protecting workers, the NSW Government is slashing their compensation

A UNIVERSAL WELLBEING PAYMENT FOR NSW

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