Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation. Minister, what are the government's policies for supporting workers who are injured at work? Are there any obstacles to this support and why is it important that we have proper scrutiny and questioning about policies to support workers?

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for her question. She has always taken an interest in people in life who are doing it hard. I think it is important that this House notes that if you are unlucky enough to be injured at work in Australia you had better hope there is a Labor administration in charge of your safety laws and your compensation. Let me use, for example, the case of John.

John works in the Territory at a remote mine site. In November 2009 he was injured in a motor vehicle rollover. He fractured his C2 disc, dislocated C6-C7 in his vertebrae, was airlifted to Darwin, then to Adelaide for immediate surgery. He received rehab after surgery, returned to Darwin and, thankfully, has returned to full-time work with the rehabilitation and support he has received under Comcare. He has received incapacity payments, medical and specialist treatment, surgery, medication, travel by air ambulance, aids and appliances, rehab assistance and physiotherapy. He continues to receive this under a federal Labor government.

He can receive incapacity payments if, despite his best efforts to return to work, he remains unable to return to work in the future due to his injury. He can apply for and, indeed, receive permanent impairment payment. If you have to have an injury, which is bad, at least have it under a Labor government. But there is an obstacle—

Opposition members: This is pathetic.

and if people from the opposition call out 'pathetic', wait till they hear what their New South Wales Liberals are doing. Let us take the real-world case—

Opposition members interjecting—

We don't need to exaggerate. We don't need to make up tall tales. We just tell the truth here.

Opposition members interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will resume his seat. The minister has the call and will be heard in silence.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ashley is a nurse. She injured her back in 1998 moving a patient. She tried to go back to work and in 2004, again at work, exacerbated the back injury. She has struggled with chronic pain for the last 14 years. Without the support she received under the old workers comp system in New South Wales she would have had to retire, she would have been on the DSP, and people would have given up on her. Unfortunately, now she lives in New South Wales with a Liberal government. Where she is injured, unless she passes the 20 per cent whole person impairment test—which is unlikely—that is it in 12 months time: no medical help and put on the scrapheap. What this means for the 600,000 Australians who get injured is: you cannot trust the New South Wales Liberals to look after you if you get injured at work.

Look at those people opposite—they think it does not happen. Six hundred thousand people get injured, and you cannot trust the Liberals if you are injured at work in New South Wales. What is more, you cannot trust the federal Liberals because they will not rule out doing the same thing nationally. They do not have an IR policy or a workers comp policy and we do not trust them to look after workers. (Time expired)

Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I have a supplementary question. Minister, in light of your answer, can you explain the difference between the Commonwealth and the New South Wales government policies on helping injured workers, with particular reference to someone like Sydney father Tom Rigby, who was injured at the Kurnell desalination plant four years ago and whose case is reported in today's Daily Telegraph?

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Page for her question and I am grateful for the coverage in the Daily Telegraph today about what happens when you have a New South Wales government stripped of compensation.

The case which the member for Page refers to, which is also detailed in the Daily Telegraph, is about a fellow working at a desalination plant four years ago at Kurnell. I will tell you what happened to him. He lost half a foot, muscles from his thigh and half his abdomen. He doubts he will get a job again in the same industry. His medical costs pile up. He is watching his kids grow up but, because of his injuries incurred at work through no fault of his own, he cannot share the same experiences in parenting as someone who has not been put in this situation.

It is bad enough that you get injured at work, but even worse that you get injured again when Liberals get into power. If this person does not reach the 30 per cent threshold, if he were ever to return to work he would get medical payments for one year—as if your foot grows back when you get injured; as if your abdomen grows back. In Liberal land, where the workers come second, after 12 months you get it in the neck.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You do not like it when you hear the truth. Hang your heads in shame. This bloke is not injured through any fault of his own and he deserves a better go in life. The Liberals when they are in power cannot be trusted in New South Wales, and you cannot be trusted nationally. Put up your policies and show— (Time expired)

Mr Hunt interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Flinders is denying his colleague the call. The member for Mitchell has the call.