Tuesday, 29 July 2025

WorkCover

Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (19:01): (1764) My adjournment today is to the Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC, and the action that I seek is that he meet with some of the injured workers that I have recently met with to hear their experiences and better understand how difficult their dealings with WorkCover have really been.

Jesse has asked me to share his story, so here it goes. Jesse was a committed health and safety representative when a forklift crushed his body at work. The physical injury was devastating, but what has truly destroyed him is the way the WorkCover system has handled his claim. In August 2024 the agent managing Jesse’s claim provided false and misleading information to the medical panel to block approval of the surgery he desperately needed. Since then his medical treatment has been repeatedly denied or delayed, prolonging his pain. In June 2025 a whole-person impairment assessment was brought forward, not to finalise his claim but to determine ongoing entitlements. Despite clear medical evidence showing his condition had worsened, the agent again relied on inaccurate information to terminate weekly payments. This led to Jesse receiving a premature and unjust 16 per cent WPI rating. Because of this flawed rating Jesse’s weekly payments have been cut off even though his condition continues to deteriorate. Meanwhile an investigation into the agent’s misconduct has dragged on for over nine months with no resolution, leaving Jesse trapped in financial and medical limbo.

Jesse’s body was broken at work, but it is the system that is breaking his future. The bureaucratic machinery has erased his dignity, ignoring the ongoing impact of his injury and the hope he once had for a meaningful recovery. Every step of the process has retraumatised him, turning what should be a path to healing into a battle for survival. Instead of receiving the support he earned through his work and sacrifice, Jesse faces a system that treats him as a liability to be discarded. His story is a stark reminder that the greatest injury for many workers is not the accident itself but the crushing weight of an uncaring compensation system that abandons people in their time of greatest need. Surely we can work for better.