Copyright brisbanetimes
NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey will take a compromise on his long-stalled workers’ compensation reforms to cabinet after crossbench MPs orchestrated a circuit-breaker deal in a last-ditch bid to ensure the controversial bill passes the parliament this year. In a significant move to end the deadlock, Sydney MP Alex Greenwich and former Liberal turned independent Taylor Martin, along with several other crossbenchers, have taken to the government a revised deal the MPs say will be palatable to business, unions and not-for-profit groups. Under the compromise, the crossbenchers have proposed changing the measurement of “whole of person impairment” for pyschological injuries, a key sticking point in Mookhey’s push to reform the expensive workers’ compensation scheme. Instead, the state’s Chief Psychiatrist would be asked to devise a new tool to “determine psychological impairment.” This would be done within 18 months of the bill passing.
