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The Evolution of Workers' Compensation Policy in Australia
Kevin Purse
The Hawke Research Institute, University of South Australia, Magill, SA
Abstract
This article traces the trajectory of workers' compensation policy in Australia through to the mid-1990s, and argues that it can be viewed in terms of 'punctuated equilibrium' - which involves occasional bursts of rapid policy change interspersed with longer periods of incremental change.
A four-stage periodisation of policy development is presented in which contestation between business interests and organised labour over the distribution of work-related injury costs is the main policy driver. In the process, the mediating role of the federalist Australian state is demonstrated. It is also suggested that the Australian policy experience lends itself to comparative studies with the United States and Canada, particularly as these are the only other two countries with state-based federalist workers' compensation systems.
Keywords
workers' compensation, class, work-related injury costs, punctuated equilibrium, industrial sociology
Article Text
In Australia, over 2000 people die each year from work-related causes (National Occupational Health and Safety Commission - NOHSC 2003: 3) and a further 477,800 are injured (Australian Bureau of Statistics - ABS 2001: 3). More Australians die from work-related causes than from motor vehicle crashes, AIDS or drug overdoses. The grim reality highlighted by these statistics reflects an ongoing inability to manage health and safety adequately at work. Apart from the appalling waste of human life and well-being, the epidemic nature of sub-standard workplace health and safety imposes an enormous financial drain on the nation's productive capacity. The cost of work-related injury and death is estimated to be at least $34 billion a year (NOHSC 2004: 23).
Against this background, the importance of workers' compensation in providing a level of financial security to workers or their families in the event of injury or death cannot be overestimated. From a commercial perspective, workers' compensation is also big business. In 2001 approximately $6 billion was paid in premiums to insurers (Productivity Commission 2004: xxv). More fundamentally, workers' compensation payments may be viewed as a commodification of work-related injury - the price, sanctioned by the state, paid for the appropriation of workers' health by employers.
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