Mary Karekos | April 2014 | Employers Liability
As part of sweeping reforms to abolish red tape, the Abbott Government, with little fanfare, introduced a Bill into the House of Representatives on 19 March 2014 to amend the Commonwealth Safety and Rehabilitation Act, 1988. The Abbott Government intends to abolish the moratorium on entry into the Comcare system that was imposed by the Rudd Government in 2007. The amendments will allow any national employer to gain entry to the national scheme without having to satisfy the requirement that it must be in competition with a federal authority or corporation. Under the current scheme, a corporation was only eligible to apply for a licence to self-insure if it was doing business in competition with a federal authority or a corporation that was previously a federal entity. Relaxing the entry requirements into the scheme will simplify compliance across jurisdictions for national employers and potentially save substantial costs.
The benefits of Comcare for national employers have been identified as including: •
Single / Uniform set of benefits and rules across all employees in all States & Territories
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Simpler systems and processes
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Potential to standardise / centralise claims management
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Cost reductions in administration and compliance costs
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Limited common law entitlements
TurkAlert
Comcare freeze lifted
Now that the gateway is open, the influx of employers to the scheme could have repercussions for state based schemes including potentially reducing the pool of employers participating, with increased premiums for remaining businesses. Unions may argue that this will place further pressure on worker’s entitlements under the state based schemes.
For more information, please contact: Mary Karekos Partner T: 02 8257 5731 M: 0419 281 720 mary.karekos@turkslegal.com.au
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