Appearing at a public hearing on Wednesday 16 December, QLS President Luke Murphy, Member of the Accident Compensation Tort Law Committee Leeha James and QLS Senior Policy Solicitor Kerryn Sampson appeared before the Education, Employment and Training Committee as part of its public hearing on the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020.
The Bill was introduced by the Honourable Grace Grace MP, Minister for Education, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Racing, on 26 November 2020 after an identical Bill of the same name lapsed with the dissolution of Parliament on 6 October 2020.
As outlined in the explanatory notes, the objectives of the Bill are to:
- Introduce presumptive workers’ compensation laws for first responders diagnosed with PTSD.
- Provide an alternative claims pathway for first responders who are struggling to cope with PTSD, which presumes they have a work-related injury unless it is proved their injury was not caused by work.
QLS raised concerns the presumption of injury provision which reverses the onus of proof and the breadth of the Bill.
More information on the committee inquiry and the broadcast of the public hearing is available here.
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