Scott Ryan (Victoria, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

I am pleased to introduce the Comcare and Seacare Legislation Amendment (Pension Age and Catastrophic Injury) Bill 2017.

The Comcare scheme is established by the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (the 'SRC Act').It provides workers' compensation coverage for Australian and ACT government employees, and the employees of 34 licensed corporations. The SRC Act also covers members of the Australian Defence Force whose injuries are attributable to certain defence service before 1 July 2004.

The Seacare scheme is established by the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992 (the 'seafarers act') and provides workers' compensation coverage for a small, defined segment of the Australian maritime industry.

The bill will make minor but important amendments to the SRC Act and the seafarers act. The changes will align these two acts with the age pension qualifying age in the Social Security Act and the minimum benchmarks in the National Injury Insurance Scheme (the 'NIIS') for supporting catastrophically injured employees.

The changes contained in this bill are also contained in the Seafarers and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016, but are now being progressed separately due to their time critical nature.

Currently, income replacement payments under the SRC and seafarers acts generally cease at 65 years of age. This means the cut-off age will no longer align with the qualifying age for the age pension, when it increases incrementally, from 1 July 2017.

The increase in the age pension to age 67, legislated by the previous government in 2008, recognises that Australians are now living longer and seeks to improve the long-term sustainability of the pension system.

The changes to pension age begin in July, when eligibility increases to 65½. Eligibility then increases by six months every two years, until it reaches 67 in 2023.

This bill will ensure that injured employees covered by the Comcare and Seacare schemes will not be disadvantaged when moving from incapacity payments to the age pension by aligning eligibility for income replacement to the increasing age pension age.

In other words, it ensures that those on income replacement payments will continue to get those payments until they reach the age when they can qualify for the age pension.

Further to this, the bill will amend the SRC and seafarers acts to align with the minimum benchmarks recommended for the NIIS.

The NIIS is a federated model of separate no-fault schemes that provide lifetime care and support for persons who sustain catastrophic injuries in certain situations, including workplace accidents. This bill will also ensure that employees who are catastrophically injured are able to receive the level of benefits under the Comcare and Seacare schemes recommended by the NIIS.

The Comcare and Seacare schemes provide, and will continue to provide, generous income replacement payments until age pension age as well as rehabilitation support and reasonable lifetime medical payments.

This bill demonstrates the government's commitment to ensuring that injured employees covered by the Comcare and Seacare schemes will not be left without financial support prior to the employee reaching his or her age pension age, and that those employees who are catastrophically injured are able to maintain their independence and receive the care they need.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak briefly on the Comcare and Seacare Legislation Amendment (Pension Age and Catastrophic Injury) Bill 2017. Labor will support this bill. This bill amends the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act and the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act to ensure injured employees in receipt of weekly compensation payments for incapacity can continue to receive those payments until they reach pension age, as defined in the Social Security Act. The qualifying age for the age pension under the Social Security Act 1991 will begin to increase on 1 July this year. By linking compensation for incapacity with the pension age, rather than age 65, these amendments will result in no gap between the cessation of compensation for incapacity and eligibility for receipt of the age pension.

This bill also amends the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act and the seafarers act to align these acts with minimum benchmarks for catastrophic workplace injuries in the National Injury Insurance Scheme. The bill removes the cap on weekly compensation payable for household services and attendant care services for employees with catastrophic injury. An employee with a catastrophic injury will also be eligible to receive compensation for household services from the day of the injury without the current 28-day waiting period.

While we support the bill and the measures it takes to align the payments to the pension age, it is worth noting the Turnbull government's policy to increase the pension age to 70, and Labor certainly does not support that. We do support the bill, because we are removing the gap that exists currently. However, we do accept that there are people who want to work beyond the current pension age, and there is no problem with that, but we do not accept the idea that you cannot get a pension until you reach the age of 70.

I would also just like to remind the Senate that the Turnbull government is still pursuing two other bills to amend the Comcare scheme, and these are related. They are incidental to the bill before us. The Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Improving the Comcare Scheme) Bill 2015, with its Orwellian title, will exclude workers from the Comcare scheme and significantly reduce the compensation available for those who remain eligible. This bill attempts to reduce the liabilities of the Comcare scheme at the expense of injured people at work. There is also the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Legislation Amendment Bill 2014, which, if enacted, will directly and indirectly risk the workplace health and safety of Australian workers. It will also remove the rights of Australian workers to fair and reasonable cover when they suffer the misfortune of a work-related illness or injury. To sum up, we do support this bill. This is fixing something that needs to be fixed, and, for that reason, we will support it.

Scott Ryan (Victoria, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.