COMPARISON OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION ARRANGEMENTS

A technical amendment was made concerning a provision in the repealed 1990 Regulations to delete a duplicated

reference to the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police.

The commencement date of the Regulations was 1 April 2002, except for Regulation 19 which had 1 July 2002 as its

commencement date.  These commencement dates mirror the relevant commencement dates 

under the SRCOLA Act.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Further to the legislation that was passed in May 2001 to meet the unfunded liability from the HIH collapse, a levy of

4% of premium on employers and self insured employers was effected from 1 July 2002.

A number of amendments were passed by parliament in the August sittings and are due to commence on 1

November 2002.  The major amendments are:

Benefits

The payment of long term weekly benefits to be more strongly linked to capacity for work after 104 weeks of 

incapacity

Increase the lump sum death benefit, payable to the dependants of a deceased worker, from the current 156 

times AWE ($127,546) to 260 times AWE ($212,576)

Rationalise the benefit payments for junior workers.  There is an anomaly between benefit adjustments for 

apprentices and other junior workers

The maximum commutation to be linked to the worker's Normal Weekly Earning or Average Weekly Earnings 

(AWE), whichever, in the case of a particular worker, is the greater amount.

Rehabilitation and Return to Work

Provide for mandatory rehabilitation intervention for stress related claims during the deferral period.  

Note: when making an initial claim decision, the insurer must make one of three decisions, ie to accept, reject 

or defer the claim in order to obtain further information. The deferral is for a period of up to 56 days, during 

which the worker is entitled to weekly benefits, but no other compensation

Formalise  without prejudice  rehabilitation in the legislation

Remove post 26 week entry requirement for the alternative employer incentive scheme.  This scheme provides 

for monetary and indemnity incentives for a host employer to employ an injured worker

Provide for self employment as a rehabilitation and return to work tool.

Dispute Resolution

Ensure that the reassessment by a permanent impairment panel is final, non appealable, and not subject to 

Work Health Court review.  This is the intent of the current legislation 

Provide a time limit for payment of permanent impairment entitlements 

Provide for a worker to access interim benefits through the Work Health Court without the requirement for a 

`certificate of mediation'. This is conditional upon a worker first applying for mediation

Extend the period for a mediator to attempt to resolve a dispute from 14 to 28 days 

Introduce an effective administration and charging system to cater for outsourced mediators, supported by 

legislation. 

Other Matters

Ensure that claimants who are imprisoned outside of the Northern Territory are not eligible to receive weekly 

compensation benefits (as is the case for those imprisoned in the Territory)

Claimants who move overseas should not be entitled to weekly benefit payments unless the rehabilitation 

process is complete.

Heads of Workers' Compensation Authorities  46