NSW unions rallied against the proposed changes to the state’s workers compensation scheme on Monday 26th May.
NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns and Treasurer Daniel Mookhey have set out changes in the proposed Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. These changes are reflective of increases in insurance premiums and incidences of psychological injury claims, and low return to work rates. However, unions have slammed these changes as a cost-cutting exercise that favour the bottom-line over genuine care for workers’ mental health.
Among the changes is raising the whole-of-person impairment (WPI) threshold that entitles workers to long term support for psychological injury from 15 to 31 per cent. The WPI is a measure of permanent impairment that a worker has suffered because of workplace injury. Unions have warned that this change would effectively deny any psychological injury claim.
On 27th May, the State Government announced that this change is intended to be staggered, with the WPI threshold rising to 25 per cent from October 2025 and rising to 30 per cent from July 2026.
One of the controversial changes, later rescinded, was that psychological injuries caused by bullying or harassment were required to have a finding from the Industrial Relations Commission or the Fair Work Commission.
Secretary of the NSW Branch of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union Brad Pidgeon addressed the rally, speaking to psychological injuries being underreported due to the stigma around seeking help. Only 21 per cent of all claims are for psychological injuries.
“We must demand reforms that protect workers, not hinder them. We need a system that not only addresses physical injuries but also acknowledges the importance of mental health support.”
Deputy President of the NSW Teachers Federation Amber Flohm stated that the greatest victims of these changes would be health and education workers: “the fact [is] that those two industries have 80 per cent of their workers who are women. It is shameful for the treasurer to target women”.
Flohm slammed the changes to the WPI threshold as “effectively shut [sic] down psychological injury claims for workers in this state” and that “doctors, mental health experts, lawyers, and unions are standing united against these cuts”.
Secretary of the NSW Branch of the Australian Services Union (ASU) Angus McFarland also condemned the changes to the WPI threshold, stating that “as of today, only 27 out of the more than 10,000 workers in the scheme would be eligible for” compensation for long-term care. This figure comes from the testimony of the NSW state insurer Insurance and Care NSW (icare) at the Legislative Council’s hearing on the inquiry into the proposed changes.
Abigail Boyd, Greens Member of the Legislative Council (MLC), illustrated the devastating consequences of the WPI threshold change, saying she “[has] met people who were suicidal and only got to around 20 per cent, [and] someone [who] was gravely, gravely psychologically ill, who was only on 18 per cent.
“We know that at least 59 people have committed suicide while on workers compensation in New South Wales in the last five years alone.”
Assistant General Secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association Michael Whaites spoke to the precarious conditions of healthcare workers, stating that “15 per cent of nurses were suffering from PTSD as a result of workloads”. He highlighted a case of a nurse “that will never work a day in her life again in a public hospital ward” due to psychological injury, whose impairment threshold is 21 per cent.
He continued, “[Minns is] denying nurses and midwives justice”, and stated that these changes are anathema to “the very thing that will put more nurses and midwives at the bedside, caring for you, caring for your relatives, and caring for the community”.
Finance Sector Union National Secretary Julia Angrisano spoke to the dire consequences of these proposals if legislated: “It is outrageous to think that under the proposed changes, bank bosses who are enabling these practices and a culture of do more with less, which we know is causing mental health injuries, will be given a green light to continue with those practices.”
Dr Mitch Hickson, from the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (ASMOF), spoke to the root issue causing increases in psychological injury claims: “The nurses, doctors, and paramedics unions have been very clear about what we need to make our workplaces safer, what we need to make our working conditions better, we need better staffing and we need better funding, but they [the Government] refuse to listen to us.”
Hickson condemned the anti-worker behaviour of the Minns Labor Government at the recent doctors’ strikes: “Instead of listening to us in our union, they threatened and intimidated us. They spread lies in the media.” Hickson referred to the fabricated claim that the doctors’ strike would result in hundreds of chemotherapy treatments being cancelled.
Secretary of Unions NSW Mark Morey concluded the rally thanking the unionists that attended.
“Everyone agrees the system is broken. Everyone agrees it needs to be fixed, but cutting injured workers off is the most disgraceful way to ‘fix’ anything, especially the workers comp system that was set up to look after injured workers.”
