Thursday, 24 September 2026

 David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:47): (2842) My adjournment is for the attention of the Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC, and the action I seek is that the government commission an independent investigation into WorkSafe Victoria and the WorkCover scheme, including claims handling by agents, following multiple reports from injured workers that the system is not performing its duties. Earlier this year this house referred TAC claims to the Legal and Social Issues Committee after similar reports from accident victims. That inquiry found that complex processes can add secondary trauma, that people with severe injuries struggle most to navigate the scheme and that administrative burden can deter treating practitioners. It recommended better support for those with severe injuries, peak body representation on the clinical panel and a client advisory group of survivors. Those findings pointed towards constructive reform. I am now receiving comparable accounts from WorkCover claimants. Workers describe long-recognised supports being withdrawn despite unchanged disability, treatment delayed or refused despite specialist evidence, unpaid invoices, incomplete records, restricted access to material provided to independent medical examiners, premature return-to-work directions that worsen injury and people falling between WorkCover, Centrelink and the NDIS. The process itself is described as adversarial rather than rehabilitative. WorkSafe’s outstanding claim liabilities have grown substantially. Claimants reasonably ask whether more is spent helping people recover or managing them while they become sicker. Injured workers should not have to fight the scheme designed to help them. I ask the minister to investigate these issues with the same seriousness given to the TAC inquiry so that legitimate claims are handled fairly, promptly and with a focus on recovery.