
Issue No 111		14 September 2001

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

News

Della Moves on Premium Evasion

The NSW Government has released plans to make contractors responsible for any evasion of workers compensation by sub-contractors working for them.

The measures, part of a Green Paper on workers compensation compliance, was released at the same time as the Sheahan report into common law rights.

Movement on the evasion issue - estimated to cost the scheme $150 million every year - was a key demand of the union movement during the last ropund of workers compo reform.

The Green Paper discusses strategies for improving employer compliance with their legal obligations and sets a public comment period of four weeks.

It contains proposals to;

� make principal contractors ultimately liable for workers' compensation policies,

� compel employers to make wage declarations quarterly, to ensure real evidence of employees needing insurance,

� automatically renew policies,

� prevent the use of company restructure as a way of avoiding premiums; and

� make employers inform their insurer if they take on more employees.

NSW Minister for Industrial Relations JohN Della Bosca says the proposals are aimed at ensuring every worker in NSW is properly covered for workers compensation.

"The Green Paper has been put together with the assistance of the WorkCover Workers Compensation and Occupational Health and Safety Council and the Construction Industry Reference Group," Della Bosca says.

"It is a great example of Government, unions and employers working together to solve our problems in workers' compensation."

Unions are considering their response to the Green Paper.

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 111 contents

Interview: Amidst the Debris
ACTU President Sharan Burrow surveys the wreckage from a week that rocked the world.

Politics: Consequences of Empire
The horror of the events in New York has not led to all American and international observers feeling committed to bloody revenge.

Industrial: Grounded
Ansett workers lay bare their feelings at seeing their company driven into oblivion.

International: Election Results from East Timor
Fretelin as expected has topped the poll in East Timor�s first free democratic election and the violence predicted by some has not eventuated.

E-Change: 3.2 The Electronic Consumerist
In their latest instalment Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel ask how effective has the law become in safeguarding the things that really matter to us?

Legal: Howard's Falkland War
Zoe Reynolds chronicles the bizarre tale of the Tampa and how a group of refugees bacame pawns in a bigger political game.

Compo: Round Two Begins
Nancy Searle reviews the Sheahan Report and highlights some of the areas of concern to injured workers.

Economics: Knowledge, Power, Banking
Raj Patel questions whether a new World Bank initiative is actually designed to control the way the Third World thinks.

Review: Political Theatre
The Naked Theatre Company is a youthful, adventurous, professional, Sydney theatre company committed to the development and production of Australian playwrights.

Satire: Howard US Visit "Marginally Overshadowed"
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said his US trip was a complete success, if slightly upstaged towards the middle.

» Howard Deserts Ansett Workers

» Trans Tasman Battle for Entitlements

» Qantas Workers Move To Protect Their Entitlements

» Unions Denounce Muslim Attacks

» Fund Established for New York Workers

» Australian Unionist Lost in New York

» US Flight Crews Support Ansett Workers

» Compo: Threshold Too High

» Della Moves on Premium Evasion

» Travel Site Severs Burma Links

» Paint Company Wants Strike Declared Illegal

» Casino Staff Locked Out Again

» Tax Staff to Strike Back

» Union Applauds Deet Ruling On Clothing

» Unions Take Message to Migrant Workers

» Get Ready to Wobble

» Activists' Notebook

» STOP PRESS: Howard Rolls Abbott on Entitlements