04:18 pm, Thursday 2 May, 2013

The government announced last Wednesday that employers in NSW would pay 7.5% less for premiums for WorkCover NSW.

Barry O’Farrell, the NSW Premier, said that it creates an ideal environment that will attract businesses and also jobs to NSW which he said is good news for people that are looking for work, young people in particular.

The opposition said that injured workers would be ‘dumped’ as a result of the premium decrease as businesses are lured to the state with reduced workers compensation costs.

Unions said that the government has shown its intentions less than 12 months after reducing the rights of workers that are injured.

The government capped both the benefits and medical expenses under the WorkCover scheme and cut claims for any injuries incurred either to or from work saying that the reason was a $4 billion blowout had to be reined in.

According to Mark Lennon, the unions NSW secretary, it is felt that the cuts were about being able to reduce premiums and that there had been little thought regarding the impact on working families.

Mr O’Farrell said that it had been necessary to reform the scheme otherwise 12,000 jobs would have been lost. Instead NSW is in a better position to attract business than some of the other states.

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01:33 pm, Friday 22 June, 2012

Hon Barry O’Farrell
Photo: Premier of NSW
Facebook page

The Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 had spared employers from a 28 percent increase to their insurance premiums, says Premier Barry O’Farrell.

“With premiums in NSW already between 20 and 60 percent higher than in Victoria and Queensland, any increase would only have driven more businesses and more jobs interstate,” said Mr O’Farrell.

“WorkCover is more than $4 billion in debt and without the reforms passed by Parliament today it would become financial unviable.”

AAP reported today that the controversial legislation formally passed parliament just before 3am (AEST) Friday, with amendments allowing the exemption of firefighters and other emergency services workers, just after a day of protests.

SafetyCulture reported on Thursday that firefighters in Sydney, the Illawara and the Hunter staged protests over the government’s overhaul of WorkCover.

While the changes was good news for firefighters and other emergency services workers, Greens MP David Shoebridge said it “didn’t do” much for the rest of the state’s workers. Unions also said that they will intensify their campaign against the reforms.

“The O’Farrell government is plunging the state into industrial chaos,” said Unions NSW Secretary Mark Lennon in a statement on Friday.

“Our campaign now intensifies – politically and industrially.”

John Robertson of the Opposition believes that the reforms would affect workers who would lose their medical benefits after one year if they return to work.

“The premier will completely cut off benefits to large numbers of injured workers after five years, even if the injury is permanent and you cannot return to work,” said Mr Robertson.

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01:36 pm, Thursday 24 May, 2012

Premier Barry O’Farrell
Photo: Premier of NSW
Official Facebook page

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell denied allegations that his government has already made up its mind regarding reforms to the state’s workers’ compensation scheme.

Unions have alleged that the government has a “pre-determined agenda” to cut benefits to injured workers, after the NSW Premier said on Tuesday that parliament wouldn’t rise for the winter recess until the WorkCover reforms were passed.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the parliament is scheduled to sit until June 21 to act on the findings of a committee established to examine the reforms to the WorkCover scheme.

The committee will give its report on June 13. This tight time frame has made unions believe that the government had already drafted the legislation.

However, Mr O’Farrell denied the government already had its mind set to the nature of the reforms.

“As I said yesterday, we’re waiting for the inquiry, work’s underway now,” said Mr O’Farrell.

“But the legislation will be influenced and fashioned on the basis of the inquiry, and that inquiry is independent.

“There is a sitting schedule currently published, and what I said yesterday is we’ll continue to sit until we’ve solved the problem.”

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02:26 pm, Friday 30 March, 2012

Unions have decided to ban work at a factory site in Sydney’s west which is allegedly riddled with asbestos.

AAP reports that German firm Remondis has suggested creating a waste treatment plant on the site at Camellia, near Parramatta. Nonetheless, Unions NSW voted last night for an interim green ban on work on the site. A green ban is a form of strike action due to environmental concerns.

According to a Unions NSW spokesman, the ban would mean that none of the organisation’s 600,000 members will continue to work at the site until asbestos concerns have been addressed.

Meanwhile, NSW Deputy Opposition Leader Linda Burney appealed to Premier Barry O’Farrell to scrap plans for the plant.

“Barry O’Farrell is the last person in Sydney who thinks it’s plausible idea to excavate a former James Hardie asbestos site,” said Ms Burney in a statement on Friday.

“The old James Hardie factory at Camellia is the most contaminated asbestos site in the entire city.”

Mr O’Farrell said he had concerns about the proposal but could not intervene.

“It would be far better used in a safer way for residential purposes than the risks that some have raised about the current proposal,” said Mr O’Farrell.

“But I just want to point out that this application was lodged under the former government’s Part 3A provisions.

“It’s an application that is currently before the independent Planning Assessment Commission.

“It is not an application the state government can intervene on.”

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