The Victorian Government has declared the WorkCover system as being broken. To fix the broken system the government has announced significant changes that come at the expense of injured workers; rights and well-being. The changes to the legislation include limiting access to ongoing compensation after 130 weeks and benefits for mental injury claims.

In December 2019, Victorian Ombudsman released a scathing report on the state of the WorkSafe scheme. Injured workers were disingenuously kicked out of the system whilst insurance companies were being rewarded with bonuses. The last four years have been a crippling period for my family and yet at the same time, Worksafe agents were profiting from injured workers like my daughter.

My child was severely injured at her place of employment. She was denied the right to seek medical attention and forced to complete a 14-hour shift. She was physically assaulted at work and suffered a broken right arm. She was bullied and verbally abused at work for 9 years. She was discouraged from submitting a claim for compensation  and the injury
reports that she submitted were not investigated.

My daughter was a beautiful individual, kind-hearted, intelligent, caring, healthy, well-rounded soul of a human being who enjoyed life. She loved her job and was so proud of the work she was doing, she loved that she could provide quality care for people with disabilities living in government-funded group homes.

My daughter now suffers from chronic anxiety, regional pain syndrome, mental health disorder, and an eating disorder (anorexia). She has been driven to the point of almost taking her own life, and had I not found her at the right time she would not have been with us today. She has lost her zest for life, and her dreams and desires including having children of her own.

My family has been fortunate to have been referred to Injured Workers Support Team (IWST) by a friend. IWST is an advocacy platform for people whose voices aren’t heard, valued or respected. IWST has connected my daughter to essential services and support, they provide sound advice and technical assistance to navigate the claims system.

In January 2023, Minister Danny Pearson was asked to consider an advocacy-based model as an alternative, but he ignored this request instead choosing to bring in changes that will see injured workers, their families, and communities bearing the cost of ineffective claims administration, rehabilitation and return to work programs. We will be the ones
footing the bill, the personal cost of pain and suffering will continue for injured workers and their families. It will become harder to recover from this financially and mentally.

I ask you as a parent, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, friend, partner and grandparent to please join me and my family to end this inhumane treatment of injured workers. We need the government to listen to injured workers and adopt an advocacy-based health model as an alternative to
the changes being proposed.

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