Victorian Political News		www.robertclark.net

EMPLOYERS KEPT IN DARK ON CHANGE TO WORKCOVER PAYMENT DEADLINE

News Release - Friday, 1st September 2000

Employers were not officially notified of an extension in a WorkCover premium payment deadline until after the deadline had passed, the Shadow Minister for WorkCover, Robert Clark, has told Parliament.

As part of a package negotiated with employer organisations, the Government agreed on 14 August to extend the deadline by which employers could pay their annual premium in full and obtain a 5% discount. The deadline was extended by a week, from 18 August to 25 August.

However, the first official notification of the extension received by many employers was a letter from the Victorian WorkCover Authority dated 25 August and postmarked 28 August, so that by the time employers were informed of the extension, it had already passed.

Mr Clark questioned whether the situation was due simply to incompetence or whether it was deliberately intended to deprive employers of the opportunity to obtain the 5% discount.

Mr Clark called on the Minister for WorkCover to explain exactly how the situation had occurred and give an undertaking that it would never happen again.

Speaking outside Parliament, Mr Clark said that the Minister's response in Parliament - that the letter to employers gave details of other changes to payment arrangements and that this extension was included "just for completeness and for history" - was a clear admission that there had been no official notification given to employers before the deadline expired.

"If the Government had been genuine about this extension and taken it seriously, they would have made sure that employers were officially notified about it, rather than having to rely on media reports or notification from employer organisations.

"The reason for the extension was that because of the late issuing of premium notices this year, and because of the massive unexpected increases in premiums, employers didn't have time to raise the funds to pay by the 18 August deadline.

"Thus, with the extension decision being made only on 14 August, employers needed to be notified as soon as possible.

"Notification should have been sent out to employers immediately after the decision on 14 August, so that employers who knew they couldn't meet the original 18 August deadline were given as much notice as possible that they could still pay the bill by 25 August and obtain a 5% discount.

"The cavalier manner in which the Government has treated this issue confirms what the Opposition has been arguing all along - that these brief extensions of payment deadlines do not provide any genuine reduction in the burden being imposed on employers, service levels and jobs, and that the Government needs to take further action to reduce that burden."