‘Rushed’ reforms: Inside NSW’s controversial workers’ compensation shake-up

The NSW government’s proposed overhaul of the workers’ compensation scheme has ignited fierce debate.

In this recent episode of the HR Leader Podcast, host Kace O’Neill sits down with Chantille Khoury, partner and practice group leader for workers’ compensation at Law Partners, to dissect the draft reforms and their potentially seismic impact.

Khoury details how the reforms would devastate support for psychological injuries, revealing a statistic about the proposed 31 per cent whole-person impairment (WPI). Khoury addresses the narrow injury definitions excluding burnout/work pressure, claiming that these changes abandon vulnerable workers while ignoring root causes.

Beyond statistics, Khoury warns of reforms exacerbating mental health crises: drawn-out processes, surveillance paranoia, and inaccessible legal hurdles could deepen trauma. While acknowledging system sustainability concerns, she proposes alternatives.

The episode closes with a stark question: Will NSW fix the scheme or sacrifice worker welfare in the rush?

At the time of this episode’s recording, a key policy proposal put forward by the NSW government, which included workers having to obtain court verification from the IRC when seeking compensation for bullying, racial abuse, or sexual harassment, has since been removed.