Why Australia needs a national workers’ compensation scheme

Australia’s workers’ compensation landscape, given the almost dozen separate schemes nationwide, is “a bit of a fractured mess”. Having a national scheme, one workplace risk director argues, will go a long way in addressing pervasive issues.

In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Aon workplace risk director Gary McMullen about the current state of affairs with workers’ compensation schemes across the country, why the disparity is causing problems, the “postcode privilege” that exists for some workers, and how schemes are both declining in performance and simultaneously more expensive.

McMullen also delves into self-insurance that businesses will take out, the current state of mental health claims nationwide, the potential for lingering issues to get worse, his case for a national scheme, the likelihood that a national scheme can come about, and how HR professionals can help their businesses navigate the current landscape in the interim.

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