Committee Details

COMMITTEE'S REPORT

The Committee tabled its Report No. 8, 55th Parliament - Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 on 8 September 2015. The Bill was PASSED with amendment by the Queensland Parliament on 19 September 2015.

ABOUT THE BILL

On 15 July 2015 the Treasurer, Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships introduced the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 into the Queensland Parliament. In accordance with Standing Order 131, the Bill was referred to the Finance and Administration Committee for detailed consideration. The Parliament agreed a motion that the Committee report by 4 September 2015.

The policy objectives of the Bill, as outlined in the explanatory notes, are to implement pre-election commitments made by the Government as part of the Restoring the rights of Queenslanders injured at work policy, including:

• reinstate common law rights for injured workers that were affected by changes made by the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2013 (the 2013 Amendment Act) and establish the ability to provide additional compensation to particular workers impacted by the operation of the common law threshold;
• provide greater certainty of entitlement and accessibility to compensation for firefighters by introducing deemed disease provisions for firefighters with prescribed diseases; and
• prohibit prospective employers from continuing to access an individual’s claims history as they have been able to following other changes made by the 2013 Amendment Act.

The Bill also makes a number of other minor miscellaneous amendments that will improve the day-to-day operation of Queensland’s workers’ compensation scheme.

It should be noted that the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation (Protecting Firefighters) Amendment Bill 2015 was introduced by the Member for Kawana on 3 June 2015. This Bill was initially referred to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee. The Parliament agreed a motion that that this Bill be referred to the Finance and Administration Committee and that the Committee report by 4 September 2015. The issues considered in this Bill are also considered as part of the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015.

PUBLIC BRIEFINGS AND PUBLIC HEARINGS

Public briefings – 6 August 2015 (transcript) and 24 August 2015 (transcript)

Public hearings – 13 August 2015 (transcript) and 17 August 2015 (transcript)

SUBMISSIONS

The date for written submissions closed on 10 August 2015. Please view them under the “Submissions” tab above.