The party that may soon hold the balance of power in the Tasmanian Parliament has come out against the 2001 reforms to workers’ compensation rules.

WorkCover Tasmania’s compensation policies have become a significant issue ahead of the March 18 election.

As detailed in last week’s Sunrise Exchange News, unions and lawyers are maintaining a strong campaign against the restricted access to common law settlements.

Now the Tasmanian Green Party has launched a policy that will see the threshold for a whole person impairment decreased from 30% to no more than 10%. This will mean only 10% of an injured worker’s normal body activities will need to be lost before they can seek compensation via the courts rather than through WorkCover Tasmania.

The party promises to also introduce a “serious injury” test alongside the whole person impairment measurement. This will allow injured workers to claim more for injuries that affect them specifically in their occupation.

The Australian Labor Party is sticking to its guns.  A spokesman says the reforms are still being reviewed and the third stage of that investigation is due to be debated in the next session of parliament.

He says the WorkCover Tasmania had been successful in getting injured employees back to work through its injury management model. Contrary to some arguments, the changes have also brought premiums down for businesses across the state.

The Greens currently hold four seats in the 25-seat House of Assembly to Labor’s 14, with the Liberal Opposition holding seven. The ALP needs to retain at least 13 seats to govern in its own right.

Neither the Greens nor the ALP were willing to comment yesterday on what a minority government would mean for workers’ compensation insurance in the state.