Page 817 - Week 03 - Thursday, 25 March 1993
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Pensioner Concessions
MRS CARNELL: My question is to the Chief Minister. From 1 April, access to fringe benefits cards will be widened to include all pensioners, regardless of the level of pension received. This has quite significant financial implications for the ACT, particularly with regard to concessions for rates, other domestic charges, bus fares and certain health services. Could the Chief Minister please tell the Assembly how much this Federal Government initiative will cost the ACT in lost revenue and whether she can guarantee that the ACT will be fully compensated?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I will take Mrs Carnell's question on notice in order to get her an accurate figure. However, I can say that the Federal Government has made an offer of compensation to the Territory and to the States. I do not have details with me at the moment; so, as I say, I will get her a full and considered reply in due course.
Workers Compensation - Premium Rates
MRS GRASSBY: My question is to the Deputy Chief Minister. Would the Minister inform the Assembly of the present status of average workers compensation premium rates in the ACT?
MR BERRY: Madam Speaker, I hinted at this yesterday in the Assembly in a speech which related to employment. Of course, workers compensation premium rates are coming down. They have fallen once again in the 1991-92 financial year.
Mr Humphries: No-one is working; that is why.
MR BERRY: There you go. What a silly statement! It is a premium which is a percentage of wages. So it relates to people who are working. The continued fall in premium rates - - -
Mr De Domenico: It is falling because it is run efficiently by private sector insurance companies, too.
MR BERRY: Mr De Domenico interjects and says that it is run more efficiently by insurance companies in the private sector. Indeed, it is run more efficiently than it was in the past and indeed it is run more efficiently under Labor. So, I thank you, Mr De Domenico, for drawing that to the Assembly's attention.
The continued fall in premium rates can be, I think, directly related to government initiatives. One of those, of course, is fostering the private insurance system and encouraging open competition between insurers. That makes them more efficient. Another initiative is fair, but firm, enforcement of workers compensation legislation requiring all ACT private sector employers to provide workers compensation coverage for their employees. So, we have made sure that everybody who employs insures; otherwise they will be subject to significant penalties. Of course, those actions had to be taken. Another initiative relates to the provision of a safer work environment through enforcement of the occupational health and safety legislation and, indeed, ensuring that the occupational health and safety legislation is better again than it was when we first introduced it in 1989.
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