The Albanese government wants to get injured public servants back to work sooner and rein in the cost of the Comcare scheme, which covers half a million federal and ACT public servants.
Work and Workplace Relations Department Secretary Simon Duggan told Senate estimates in June that the agency was "a couple of steps away from being at the point of an exposure draft of legislation" after spending months consulting with stakeholders and providing options to the minister.
In her speech, Ms Rishworth will point to research showing that, after 70 days away from the workplace, the likelihood of them ever returning falls to 35 per cent, down from 70 per cent at 20 days.
Comcare spent $487 million on workers' compensation premiums and payouts in 2024-25, according to the latest data released by the agency which has not provided forecasts.
4 sentences from our version of the report,
chosen to cover it. Nothing here is written; every line is in the article below.
How
Summarized version
Unions and independent ACT senator David Pocock have called for the government to limit the agency's powers to cut support payments or intervene in workers' selection of medical treatment providers.
Headline check
The one thing this headline claims is in the report.
Figures, names and quoted words in the headline, looked for in the report itself — not in the summary above. One claim in this headline could be checked, so this is a narrow pass and not a thorough one. How this is checked
The article, shortened and in plain language
The Albanese government wants to get injured public servants back to work sooner and rein in the cost of the Comcare scheme, which covers half a million federal and ACT public servants.
Work Minister Amanda Rishworth will tell the Comcare national conference in Canberra on Wednesday that she wants to "strengthen arrangements" for injured bureaucrats to be supported to "resume duties safely," highlighting delays that lower the chance of ever returning to work.
Work and Workplace Relations Department Secretary Simon Duggan told Senate estimates in June that the agency was "a couple of steps away from being at the point of an exposure draft of legislation" after spending months consulting with stakeholders and providing options to the minister.
The final report also called for an end to delegated claims management arrangements under which agencies including the Australian Taxation Office and Services Australia directly oversee workers compensation claims, leading to a rise in appeals to the Administrative Review Tribunal.
In her speech, Ms Rishworth will point to research showing that, after 70 days away from the workplace, the likelihood of them ever returning falls to 35 per cent, down from 70 per cent at 20 days.
Treasury forecasts in the May federal budget showed Commonwealth spending on workers' compensation premiums and payouts would grow to $10 billion a year by 2029-30, a figure that includes veterans, up from $8.6 billion in 2025-26.
Comcare spent $487 million on workers' compensation premiums and payouts in 2024-25, according to the latest data released by the agency which has not provided forecasts.
Shortened to 1 minute
of reading, this version reads 4.4 on the Niral Score.
You are reading our version, not theirs.
This is The Canberra Times's report shortened to its most important sentences, in plainer words, with
verdicts and loaded words taken out. Plain description stays, and so do adjectives
that carry a fact, such as "former" or "federal". The reporting, the facts and the quotations
are theirs — quotations are never edited — and the indicators beside it measure
this version. Hover or tap Adjectives to see every one left in the text.
How this outlet filed it, and how we rewrote it
No other newsroom we read has filed on this event, so there is nothing to compare it with yet.
Readers can ask a question about this story here.
Questions and answers are for subscribers.
Sign in
to read them.
Comments are read before they appear where anything in them needs a person to look.
Nothing posted here is ever deleted; a comment taken down keeps its text and the reason,
so the decision can be looked at again. How this works
