Gippsland East electorate
Tim BULL (Gippsland East) (14:47): (1212) My question is to the Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC, and the information that I am seeking is whether there are plans to revisit WorkCover premiums for commercial fishers. As background, I provide one example of a local operator from Lakes Entrance: his WorkCover premium in 2023–24 was $4178; in 2023–24, it rose to $13,057, an $8878 increase. If that was not enough, in 2024–25 it went up another $2617. But here comes the killer: in 2025–26 it is $24,078, another increase of over $8000 from the previous year. Now, that is a 476 per cent increase in four years. How are businesses like this meant to survive such increases? So I ask the minister if there are any plans to review the impact on commercial fishers and small businesses in general who cannot sustain these rises.