Matt Thistlethwaite (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

They are taking their lead from John Howard. I encourage citizens of the state to go to the website that the union movement has set up—nswforall.org.au—and have a look at the facts about the operation of the workers compensation scheme and occupational health and safety laws in New South Wales. Get the facts—that the scheme is aimed at insuring safety is paramount, that occupational health and safety laws protect workers and that when someone is injured the aim of the scheme should be to provide a reasonable income but at the same time to progress and prioritise rehabilitation to get someone back to work. I ask people to email or to write a letter to their local MP and express their opposition to these reforms, to sign the petition that is available on the website and to take to social media and express their outrage at what the O'Farrell government is doing to workers rights in New South Wales.

In conclusion, I wish to highlight one of the comments that was made by a worker in New South Wales on the website. They said:

On December 16th 2011 a car ran up the back of my car while I was stopped in response to a red traffic light. My car was written off. The back of the car had been pushed in to within 4 inches of the back seat. I sustained a whip lash and back injury and have been having physio as a result of this injury.

If physio had not been paid for through workers compensation, I would have had to take time off and cause the school the expense of replacing me on those days. As an assistant principal this would have also caused disruption to the school. The cost of the injury would have been greater for the students, teachers, parents and community.

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