Extract from Hansard [COUNCIL — Tuesday, 16 May 2023]

p2270b-2271a Hon Matthew Swinbourn

[1]

WORKERS COMPENSATION AND INJURY MANAGEMENT AMENDMENT BILL 2023 Receipt and First Reading

Bill received from the Assembly; and, on motion by Hon Matthew Swinbourn (Parliamentary Secretary), read a first time.

Second Reading HON MATTHEW SWINBOURN (East Metropolitan — Parliamentary Secretary) [10.04 pm]: I move —

That the bill be now read a second time. The Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 2023, when enacted and proclaimed, will modernise WA’s workers compensation laws and become the only act providing for the workers compensation and injury management scheme in Western Australia. The act will provide for financial contributions to be paid by licensed insurers and self-insurers to WorkCover WA as the funding source for three distinct areas of the workers compensation scheme. Firstly, licensed insurer and self-insurer contributions will be collected and credited to WorkCover WA’s general account to fund WorkCover WA’s expenses in carrying out its functions and administrating the workers compensation and injury and injury management scheme. Secondly, licensed insurer and self-insurer contributions will be collected and accredited to WorkCover WA’s default insurance fund to fund liabilities associated with uninsured employers, insolvent insurers and self-insurers, and acts of terrorism. Thirdly, licensed insurer and self-insurer contributions will be collected by WorkCover WA and remitted to the Insurance Commission of Western Australia for crediting to the catastrophic injuries fund to fund the costs of catastrophic workplace injuries covered under the catastrophic injuries support scheme. The Workers Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2023 will amend the various sections of the main act in order to authorise a tax to be imposed to the extent that contributions required to be paid under each relevant section of that act are considered a tax. The amendments to the main act made by this bill will come into operation at the same time as the provisions being amended come into operation. The second and separate bill is necessitated by section 46(7) of the Western Australian Constitution Acts Amendment Act 1899, which provides that bills imposing taxation must deal only with the imposition of the tax. Pursuant to standing order 126(1), I advise that this bill is not a uniform legislation bill. It does not ratify or give effect to an intergovernmental or multilateral agreement to which the government of the state is a party; nor does this bill, by reason of its subject matter, introduce a uniform scheme or uniform laws throughout the commonwealth. I commend the bill to the house and table the explanatory memorandum. [See paper 2214.]

Debate adjourned, pursuant to standing orders. House adjourned at 10.06 pm

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