Key developments
- Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2021
- Creating a disability inclusive workplace guidance
- Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill 2021
- Medicare delays
- Religious Discrimination Bill 2021
- Bail Act Monitoring Group
- Electronic witnessing
- Equal Access Costs Amendment to the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth)
- Migration Amendment (Protecting Migrant Workers) Bill 2021
- Assessing testamentary capacity
- Access to a client’s will
Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2021
The Injury Compensation Committee contributed to a submission to the NSW Legislative Council’s Portfolio Committee No. 1 – Premier and Finance on the Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2021.
The Bill amends the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) to abolish the so-called ‘COVID-19 presumption’, namely that a worker who contracts COVID-19 in prescribed industries such as healthcare, education and retail is presumed to have contracted the virus at work.
We suggested that the question of when the presumption should be reviewed would have to be carried out by reference to the continuing effects of the pandemic and evidence that it was having a material impact on the scheme and its participants. Other considerations included the impact of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and its transmission; and the impact of changes in policy around QR check-ins in being able to prove where COVID-19 was contracted.
