The South Australian Business Chamber Today — Thursday 11 November, 2021
The South Australian Business Chamber is very disappointed and highly concerned to learn of the High Court’s decision not to allow ReturnToWorkSA ‘Leave to Appeal’ regarding the Summerfield decision of the Supreme Court of South Australia.
South Australian businesses cannot afford to return to the dark old days of exorbitant WorkCover premiums that existed prior to 2015.
This ruling means that average ReturnToWorkSA premiums are likely to increase on average by 20% from 21/22 as the scheme will need to fund almost $1.1 billion in additional liabilities, plus an additional $100 million per annum.
For businesses, this means wage on-costs will increase significantly, creating struggle to compete against interstate and international firms. Employees too will lose out from today’s decision, with future employment opportunities in South Australia being significantly compromised by this unacceptable new cost of doing business.
South Australia cannot afford to be at a competitive disadvantage, and this will put us well behind other states in attracting new business to this State. South Australia will once again be the worst in the nation for ReturntoWork premiums, and this time by a long shot.
On behalf of our members and the broader South Australian business community, the South Australian Business Chamber is now calling on the South Australian Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon Rob Lucas MLC, and the Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon Kyam Maher MLC, to work collaboratively to address this issue through legislative amendments to the Return To Work SA Act (2014).
We will continue to keep you updated on events as they continue to evolve.
