Workers’ comp deal “punches down on people whose workplaces made them ill”: Australians for Mental Health
Grassroots mental health organisation Australians for Mental Health has warned a deal between the Minns Labor Government and the Coalition on workers’ compensation laws will kick vulnerable workers off support when they are still too sick to return to their jobs, while also further embedding stigma.
The Coalition and Labor announced an agreement yesterday, which would see workers’ compensation become harder to access for people with psychological injuries.
Under the deal, the whole person injury threshold for receiving income support will be raised to 25 per cent, and then up to 28 per cent by 2029. This comes despite evidence that a person above 21 per cent has little to no capacity to work.
“This deal will ultimately see people with serious depression, PTSD and trauma forced to return to work before they have capacity to do so,” Australians for Mental Health Executive Director Chris Gambian said.
“We are talking about nurses, teachers and paramedics. People who do incredibly important jobs, trying to function at work before they have fully recovered.”
Australians for Mental Health warned the changes only served to punish people who had been harmed by their workplaces, instead of addressing the conditions and environment that caused them to become unwell in the first place.
“This deal punches down on people whose workplaces made them ill. Imagine being asked to prove you are more broken than what experts say is a level at which people can’t function at work. People will need to prove they are catatonic to get income support which they will need to get better.
“We understand the workers’ compensation scheme for psychological injury is unsustainable. But we shouldn’t punish the people who have been harmed. We need to focus on cleaning up unsafe workplaces, and establishing what is making workers sick. That will require bold reform that puts wellbeing at the centre of everything the state government does,” Chris Gambian said.
Australians for Mental Health is urging politicians in New South Wales to consider what impact these changes could have on already stretched mental health units and services in the state, and to instead consider focusing on why people are becoming so unwell they can’t work.
Media contact: Kathleen - 0421 522 080