Workers Compensation, Workplace Health and Safety, and the “New” Federalism

By Kevin Purse

Constitutional responsibility for workers' compensation and workplace health and safety in Australia has traditionally resided with state and territory governments.

With the passge of time there have arisen myriad jurisdictional inconsistencies over 100 ears of public policy development. There have been sporadic attempts to address these issues in workers comp. beginning with the Woodhouse Committee report in the 1970s which advocated the replacement of state and territory schemes with a comprehensive federal accident compensation scheme (based on the NZ model developed in the 1960s). The demise of the Whitlam government killed that idea off. In the mid 1990s a program aimed at developing "national consistency" was propsed by the Heads of Workers Compensation Authorities only to also fader away.

With OHS the establishemne to the National Occpational Helath and Safety Commission (NOHSC) by the Hawke government brought a national focus to this area. The development of NOHSC standards was the way forward they developed.

The recent High Court decisions on the corporations power as it applies to employees and workers comp. will have major implications for these areas. The Optus decision by the High Court in March 2007 amplifies the seismic shift in the way the systems will operate in the future.

(CCH Journal of Occupational Health and Safety Australia and New Zealand; vol. 23, no 2, April 2007; p107-11)