Western Australia (WA)

1902–1991

WA introduced the Workers’ Compensation Act 1902. There were frequent and complex amendments over the next 79 years until the Workers’ Compensation and Assistance Act 1981 amended and consolidated the law. In 1991 the Act was renamed the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 1981, reflecting a general shift of emphasis to rehabilitation.

1999–2001

A number of reviews and reports between 1999–2001 recommended changes and the Workers’ Compensation Reform Bill 2004 introduced changes to statutory benefits, injury management, access to common law, employer incentives in relation to return to work for disabled workers, and fairness in dispute resolution. As part of the reforms the Act was renamed the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 which reflects an emphasis on injury management within the workers’ compensation scheme in Western Australia.

2009–2011

In 2009 a further review of the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 was undertaken. The review recommended a 2-stage process. The first stage was completed with passage of amendments in 2011 relating to the:

  • removal of all aged-based limits on workers’ compensation entitlements
  • extension of the safety net arrangement for workers awarded common law damages against uninsured employers, and
  • inclusion of various amendments of an administrative nature (including the removal of time limit for writ lodgement after election and the incorporation of diffuse pleural fibrosis into the industrial disease provisions of the legislation).

The establishment of the Conciliation and Arbitration Service and other changes to the dispute resolution process commenced on 1 December 2011.

2013–2023

The second stage of the legislative review, which aimed to modernise the workers compensation legislation, progressed in 2013/2014 and saw the release of the Review of Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 Discussion Paper. Stakeholder feedback on the discussion paper informed the subsequent Review of Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 Final Report (Final Report). The report contains 171 recommendations for inclusion in the new workers compensation statute.

The final report was tabled in Parliament on 26 June 2014 the Government at the time committed to draft a Bill in line with the Final Report recommendations. However, the Bill was lapsed by the change in Government in 2017.

In February 2018, the new Government approved the drafting of a Bill based on the recommendations contained in the Final Report, plus catastrophic injury amendments in line with NDIS bilateral agreement.

The Government also prioritised amendments to implement Final Report recommendations relating to entitlements for dependants of workers killed at work - to address a significant inequity in the scheme. This change was implemented 1 July 2018.

In 2020 the Government enacted other priority reforms through the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Amendment (COVID-19 Response) Act 2020 which removed a number of barriers and constraints in the Act relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, including Final Report recommendations to remove the common law termination day.

In 2021 the Government reiterated its commitment to introduce the Bill following public consultation, and announced the following additional election commitments for inclusion in the Bill:

  • extension of weekly compensation step-down point
  • doubling of medical expenses cap
  • prohibition on employers attending medical appointments of injured workers, and
  • introduce a rebuttable presumption that ambulance workers who claim to suffer from PTSD have developed it in the course of their work (implemented February 2022). 

Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 2023

The Bill was introduced into Parliament on 22 February 2023 and was subsequently passed on 11 October 2023.

The new Act:

  • modernises WA’s workers compensation laws
  • builds on priority workers compensation reforms in 2018 that increased entitlements and better supported dependants of workers who die in work related accidents, and the 2020 COVID-19 reforms that removed the common law termination day
  • implements the Government’s 2021 election commitments for workers compensation, and
  • was informed by extensive consultation with all key stakeholders, including 86 submissions on a consultation draft of the Bill over a 4-month submission period in late 2021.

Enactment

The target commencement date for the new Act is 1 July 2024.

WorkCover WA has commenced the first stage of the implementation process which involves consultation with stakeholders on key proposals for:

  • regulations supporting the new Act, and
  • administrative instruments supporting the new Act.