The Hon. Bill Johnston MLA, Minister for Industrial Relations, introduced a Bill into Parliament on 24 June 2020 that amends the Workersโ€™ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981.

The Workersโ€™ Compensation and Injury Management Amendment (COVID-19 Response) Bill 2020 addresses a small number of priority issues in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The priority changes are brought forward from the current rewrite of the workersโ€™ compensation legislation.

A key amendment provides for regulations to be made which establish a presumption of work-related injury for prescribed diseases contracted by workers in prescribed employment.

The Governmentโ€™s priority is to ensure regulations are made, in the first instance, for health care workers who contract COVID-19.

The Bill will also facilitate electronic service of some documents, remove the arbitrary โ€˜termination dayโ€™ that constrains a workerโ€™s ability to pursue common law damages, and provide for indexation of worker entitlements in regulations.