Hansard debates

Steve DIMOPOULOS (Oakleigh – Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC, Minister for Sport, Minister for Equality) (11:35): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I ask that my second-reading speech be incorporated into Hansard.

Incorporated speech as follows:

The Bill makes several amendments to the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of Victoria’s workers’ compensation scheme, and to improve the experience of injured workers.

The Bill will reduce regulatory burden, and the cost of the financial guarantee requirements, for employers that self-insure workers’ compensation claims and non-WorkCover employers in Victoria.

The Bill also makes several amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 to streamline and modernise health and safety representative and authorised representative powers as well as address coercion and misuse of information. This will deliver immediate health and safety improvements for workers, reduce red-tape and complement efforts of the Victorian Government to combat misconduct in the construction sector.

These changes deliver on the Victorian Government’s commitment to enhancing Victoria’s reputation as a business-friendly jurisdiction, while simultaneously ensuring that Victoria is one of the safest places in the world to work.

The Bill’s amendments to the OHS Act will commence upon proclamation, with a default commencement date of 10 September 2027 if not proclaimed earlier. The Bill therefore also requires consequential amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment (Dangerous Goods) Act 2026, which commences in April 2028. These amendments are administrative in nature to update structure and will not impact the operation of the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment (Dangerous Goods) Act 2026.

The Bill also includes amendments to the Transport Accident Act 1986, the Accident Compensation Act ‍1985 and the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 to avoid the potential for unintended interpretations of the TAC’s and WorkSafe’s legislation that may result in the TAC and WorkSafe being required to fully fund specialist disability accommodation.

The Bill also includes some amendments to improve administrative efficiency.

I will now address the key amendments in more detail.

Surety bonds as an alternative option to fulfil self-insurers’ and non-WorkCover employers’ financial guarantee requirements

Self-insurers under the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 are currently required to obtain a bank guarantee to ensure their claims obligations can be met if they experience financial difficulty or insolvency. This is designed to avoid self-insurers being subsidised by scheme-insured employers.

Further, when an employer ceases to be a self-insurer, and their workers’ compensation assets and liabilities are transferred to the WorkCover scheme, or an employer moves from the Victorian WorkCover scheme to the Commonwealth workers’ compensation scheme, Comcare, the employer must provide a bank guarantee. This requirement mitigates the risk to WorkSafe if the transferred assets are insufficient to meet the associated liabilities.

The Bill amends the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 to enable surety bonds to be accepted to meet a self-insurer’s and non-WorkCover employer’s financial guarantee requirements, in addition to the existing option of a bank guarantee.

In the context of self-insurers and non-WorkCover employers, surety bonds are a legally binding agreement under which the provider guarantees that the self-insurer (or non-WorkCover employer) will fulfil their obligations to WorkSafe. If the self-insurer (or non-WorkCover employer) defaults, the provider will compensate WorkSafe and recover costs from the self-insurer (or non-WorkCover employer).

Key advantages of surety bonds relative to bank guarantees include:

• creating additional liquidity for self-insurers and non-WorkCover employers which can be deployed for business growth purposes; and

• being more cost and time effective for self-insurers and non-WorkCover employers.

To reduce the risk associated with surety bonds, the Bill requires that the surety bond issuers are regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and meet any further requirements, including credit rating requirements, set out in a new Ministerial Direction.

Independent Review of Employee Representatives

In August 2025, the Government commissioned Mr Eugene White, a respected barrister, to conduct an independent review into the powers and supports for employee representatives, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. Over the course of the Independent Review, the Independent Reviewer held over 30 meetings and received over 60 written submissions to help inform his findings.

Employer and employee representatives, as well as people with lived experience, individuals and government departments and agencies, all contributed to the Independent Review.

The Independent Review made 17 recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the employee representative frameworks. This Bill acquits four of them in full and three of them in part. The Government will consider the remaining recommendations once further policy analysis, consultation and an assessment of the regulatory impact have been conducted.

Enhancing the ability of health and safety representatives and authorised representatives to identify and resolve occupational health and safety issues

The Bill amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 to enable health and safety representatives and authorised representatives to inspect and make copies of documents that are relevant to a suspected contravention. This will strengthen their ability to participate meaningfully in discussions with employers and WorkSafe and will better equip them to identify risks and support the timely resolution of occupational health and safety issues.

These amendments do not disturb the operation of existing privacy, secrecy or confidentiality provisions under other laws. Those provisions will continue to apply unless expressly displaced, and the Bill contains no such express displacement.

The Bill also removes an unnecessary inefficiency in the existing process. Currently, an authorised representative is limited to investigating the suspected contravention that they provided notice of prior to entering a workplace. Under the Bill, if a further suspected contravention is identified during the visit, the authorised representative may investigate that matter as well, provided a new Notice of Suspected Contravention is issued.

This change prioritises dealing with occupational health and safety issues sooner and removes an unnecessary administrative step for both authorised representatives and employers.

Safeguarding against conduct that undermines the effectiveness and integrity of the OHS representation framework

The Bill amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 to prevent the misuse of health and safety representative and authorised representative powers and to prohibit coercion in relation to matters arising under Parts 7 and 8 of that Act.

The Bill makes several amendments to clarify that information, photographs and recordings obtained by health and safety representatives and authorised representatives must not be used for purposes not reasonably connected with the exercise of their statutory functions.

The Bill amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 to provide that a health and safety representative may be disqualified for intentionally using, disclosing or providing material that has been obtained to another person for a purpose not reasonably connected with the exercise of a statutory power.

The Bill also amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 to expressly prohibit health and safety representatives and authorised representatives from publishing online information obtained through the exercise of their statutory powers, including the live streaming and online publication of photographs and recordings. A contravention of this prohibition by a health and safety representative constitutes grounds for disqualification, while a contravention by an authorised representative is a criminal offence.

These amendments clarify the scope of existing powers relating to the use and dissemination of information. They make clear that the inappropriate use or disclosure of information obtained for occupational health and safety purposes is unacceptable. In doing so, they protect privacy, safeguard sensitive information, and support the integrity of the occupational health and safety representation framework.

The Bill further amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 to introduce a new offence of coercion in relation to matters under Parts 7 and 8. This will extend protections to participants in the occupational health and safety representation framework and strengthen WorkSafe’s ability to address unlawful conduct. It will also expressly prohibit coercion in relation to the nomination and election of health and safety representatives, helping to prevent interference and maintain confidence in the integrity of elections.

Administrative improvements to the OHS representation framework

The Bill makes administrative improvements to the occupational health and safety representation framework to support more consistent and effective outcomes.

Currently, WorkSafe inspectors can make binding determinations for single-employer designated work group negotiations but can only provide advice and guidance in relation to multi-employer designated work groups. The Bill amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 to enable WorkSafe inspectors to make binding determinations in relation to multi-employer designated work groups as well.

This will ensure that employees working at sites involving multiple employers or businesses, such as building sites, have the same access to binding determinations as other employees. It will support the prompt and effective resolution of occupational health and safety matters.

The Bill also amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 to require health and safety representatives to issue Provisional Improvement Notices in a WorkSafe-approved format. This will help ensure that all parties are provided with the information necessary to support a timely and appropriate health and safety response. The amendment will also support the digitisation of the Provisional Improvement Notice process.

Clarifying that the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is not liable to fund specialist disability accommodation (SDA)

The Bill also amends the Transport Accident Act 1986 to address an issue in the legislative drafting from 2024.

In 2024, this Government introduced reforms to strengthen tenancy rights and protections for people living in specialist disability accommodation. A key change was moving group homes regulated under the Disability Act 2006 into a broader definition of “SDA dwelling” in the Residential Tenancies Act 1997. This ensured residents in disability accommodation funded by both the State and the National Disability Insurance Scheme receive consistent tenancy protections. As part of this reform, references to group homes in other Victorian legislation were replaced with “SDA dwelling”.

This resulted in the definition of supported accommodation in the Transport Accident Act 1986 being amended to include “SDA dwellings”. However, this was not a like for like substitution and was not consistent with the policy intent of the legislative change.

Under the Transport Accident Act 1986, the TAC generally does not pay for accommodation, as these costs are part of daily living expenses, and would be incurred regardless of a transport accident. TAC’s severely injured clients, such as those requiring supported accommodation, are typically eligible to receive compensation for loss of earnings that they may use to fund these daily living expenses.

However, for people that cannot return home after an accident, the TAC funds supported accommodation for up to 18 months after hospital discharge. Traditionally, supported accommodation meant homes where accommodation and care costs are bundled together in a single fee. After 18 months, the TAC may continue to fund supported accommodation, but TAC clients are required to pay a daily living contribution which reflects the cost of daily living expenses.

By including “SDA dwellings”, the definition of supported accommodation unintentionally includes NDIS-funded housing. Unlike traditional supported accommodation, these dwellings have clearly identifiable accommodation costs that the TAC is generally unable to fund. For this reason, they were previously, and appropriately, excluded from the definition of supported accommodation.

To correct this drafting oversight, the Bill will remove the reference to “SDA dwelling” from the definition of supported accommodation, to avoid ambiguity regarding TAC’s liability to fund accommodation. These amendments will not affect any of TAC clients and are primarily designed to avoid the definition being interpreted in an unintended manner.

The Bill also makes a technical amendment to clarify that TAC clients are only required to commence paying a daily living contribution after 18 months of being discharged from hospital. This reflects operational practice and improves the drafting of the Transport Accident Act 1986.

Clarifying that WorkSafe is not liable to fund specialist disability accommodation (SDA)

Similar to the amendment to the Transport Accident Act 1986, the Bill will also amend the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 and the Accident Compensation Act 1985 to address the same drafting issue. This addresses amendments made to both Acts in 2024 which unintentionally expanded the definition of supported accommodation in those Acts and created ambiguity regarding the WorkCover scheme’s liability to fund accommodation costs associated with SDA dwellings.

Under the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 and the Accident Compensation Act 1985, similar to TAC, WorkSafe does not generally pay for accommodation, as these are ordinary living costs that would be incurred regardless of injury.

However, like TAC, WorkSafe may fund supported accommodation for up to 18 months after hospital discharge, and in some cases beyond that where hospital services continue to be required.

By including “SDA dwelling”, which includes “SDA-enrolled dwelling”, the amended definition of supported accommodation was unintentionally expanded to include NDIS-funded housing. This change was not consistent with the intent of the reforms or WorkSafe’s longstanding position regarding the funding of accommodation costs. Unlike traditional supported accommodation, SDA dwellings have clearly identifiable accommodation costs that, like TAC, WorkSafe is generally unable to fund. For this reason, they were previously, and appropriately, excluded from the definition of supported accommodation.

Accordingly, the Bill will remove the reference to “SDA dwelling” from the definition of supported accommodation in the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 and the Accident Compensation Act 1985, to restore the previous statutory position and avoid unintended liability.

Improving administrative arrangements for WorkSafe

Lastly, the Bill also makes amendments to improve the administration of the Victorian workers’ compensation scheme and its operational effectiveness.

The Bill amends the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 to provide that the terms and conditions of the WorkSafe Board Chair, including remuneration, are set by the Minister, and that the WorkSafe Board Chairperson may resign by writing to the responsible Minister rather than to the Governor in Council. These amendments will improve and align the appointment, resignation and remuneration arrangements for the WorkSafe Board Chairperson with those of the WorkSafe Board Directors.

The Bill amends the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 to provide that the fees and costs payable to members of Medical Panels for Victorian workers’ compensation referrals are set by the responsible Minister and gazetted. This amendment will align this process with equivalent arrangements under the Wrongs Act 1958 and reduce administrative burden.

I commend the Bill to the house.