By Kendall Crowe, Director of Policy and Advocacy, South Australian Business Chamber
Amongst COVID restrictions, rising interest rates and supply-chain issues, another critical issue has been bubbling away behind the scenes for the South Australian business community.
On 6 July, the Return to Work (Scheme Sustainability) Amendment Bill 2022 was passed. The South Australian Business Chamber commends the passing of the Bill as it provides certainty for our members.
Back in March 2021, the Supreme Court of South Australia’s decision in Summerfield vs ReturnToWorkSA allowed for injuries from the same incident to be combined. This decision enabled more injured workers to reach the threshold to be determined ‘seriously injured’. As a result, ReturnToWorkSA then calculated that the number of seriously injured workers would double, and it would face $1b in liabilities for past claims. Remember that these Return to Work payments to injured workers come from premiums paid by South Australian employers. The taxpayer does not fund this scheme.
To pay for these additional claim liabilities due to the Summerfield interpretation, the average Return to Work premium rate would have had to increase to at least 2.2 per cent for 2023/2024. This equates to a 30 per cent increase in the 2021/2022 rates (1.7 per cent). And since 2.2 per cent is only the average rate, some businesses would have faced much higher increases (up to 8 – 9 per cent). By comparison, 2.2 per cent would make SA’s premiums the highest of all Australian states.
The Summerfield ruling that allowed for the combing of injuries remains unaltered by the legislation. Yet, the threshold for an injured worker to be considered seriously injured has been increased. The business community has been advised the average premium will sit at 1.9 per cent in 2023/2024.
The South Australian Business Chamber with key industry organisations presented a solid and united voice in this matter. Together, we published a survey for our members, who said an unequivocal ‘no’ to premium increases of 2.2 per cent. In less than 48 hours, nearly 800 businesses told us that without legislative change, they would have to limit wage increases, reduce staff numbers, and reduce staff hours.
From an advocacy perspective, we continuously engaged with the State Government, the Opposition and other political parties. In every meeting, we stressed the importance of passing this Bill to keep premiums down for our members and the broader business community.
As always, we encourage businesses to be mindful of their work, health and safety obligations. But it goes so much further than that – because to so many business owners, their staff are like family.
With a successful outcome achieved for Summerfield, the South Australian Business Chamber will continue to tirelessly advocate for the interests of our members and the broader South Australian business community using all avenues possible.
