Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

  That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill and to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

In 1988, Barry Crush was the Master and Chief Engineer of the lighthouse supply vessel MV Candela. During a supply run, the ship was caught in a gale with 35 foot waves and 70 knot winds.

Rushing to secure equipment on deck that could otherwise shift and possibly capsize the ship, Barry fell 10 metres onto the deck.

He broke his back, his ankle and his knee, and suffered massive soft tissue damage.

Barry was forced to stay on the ship while the gale raged for another three days. When he finally reached Port Pirie and medical attention, he was given Panadol and told to rest.

It wasn't until he returned to Adelaide, at the end of the supply run, that his injuries were diagnosed and treated.

It was clear he was no longer able to work.

Barry applied for, and was granted, Comcare payments.

Over the next 13 years, Barry begged Comcare to reassess his payments, believing they had incorrectly calculated his Normal Weekly Earnings rate incorrectly.

Comcare had, but did not review his rate until 1999. After the review his rate was still incorrect, with Comcare describing his duties wrongly, and asserting he was only authorised to work within the confines of one Port.

Comcare also lost five different applications Barry made for the back pay he was owed.

It wasn't until 2001 that Barry's payments were finally assessed correctly. He received $292,000 in back payments, which did not include interest or any compensation. He lost a third of the amount in tax.

During those thirteen years, Comcare lost Barry's file multiple times, and information on his hard copy file and electronic records still do not match. Comcare also provided incorrect information to the Department of Finance and Deregulation, stating that Barry had received $1 million in entitlements, was paid $50,000 a year, and that there was no underpayment, amongst other incorrect statements.

This incorrect information was later used as the basis to refuse five Act of Grace payment applications from the Department of Finance and Deregulation.

Barry is still fighting to receive the compensation he is owed, including $233,750 of interest on his back payment.

Barry, and others like him, has only one avenue for seeking compensation from organisations such as Comcare, which are not covered by the CDDA Scheme that applies to Financial Management and Accountability Act.

Under section 73 of the Public Service Act 1999, an agency can make discretionary payments in special circumstances.

The subsection this Bill seeks to remove is the one that limits the payments to $100,000.

If there is no other mechanism in place to deal with compensation claims for agencies that fall outside the CDDA Scheme, then we need to ensure that fair payments can be made through other means.

In 2010, the Commonwealth Ombudsman recommended that a scheme similar to the CDDA Scheme be put in place.

We are still waiting to see if this will happen.

But people like Barry, people who may only just be beginning their own battle for compensation, deserve justice.

They shouldn't have to wait any longer.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.