The NSW Government has pledged to cut workers’ compensation premiums if WorkCover’s financial position improves. But with a deficit of about $1.4 billion – albeit a big improvement on the $3.2 billion deficit recorded in 2002 – WorkCover won’t be cutting its rates any time soon.

Present forecasts suggest the deficit will be eliminated by late 2007-early 2008, but employer groups have been arguing for immediate rate cuts now the deficit is falling.

“The time has come for the NSW Government to start sharing the benefits of the turnaround with the businesses who pay the premiums,” Australian Business CEO Paul Ritchie said last week.

Mr Ritchie, whose organisation represents 28,000 businesses, says the turnaround has occurred in part because NSW businesses “pay the highest premiums in the nation”.

NSW employers pay an estimated $1161 per employee per year. Queensland employers, by contrast, pay $602. The NSW rate is 2.57%, compared with 1.4% in Queensland and 1.8% in Victoria.

But Industrial Relations Minister John Della Bosca has declined to set a date for a rates cut. Mr Della Bosca has pulled the deficit back by reforming the system, making access to compensation much more difficult, increasing premiums and encouraging injured workers to return to work on lighter duties.