Publication details Online access Published by Comcare Online access is available at www.comcare.gov. au/annualreport or alternatively through the Forms © Commonwealth of Australia 2020 and Publications link on the Comcare website. PUB 001 – Comcare and Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission Annual Reports Annual report contact 2019–20 To obtain further information contact: ISSN 1325-1031 (hard copy) Corporate Strategy ISSN 1832-0260 (online) Comcare, GPO Box 9905 ABN 41 640 788 304 (Comcare) CANBERRA ACT 2601 or All material presented in this publication is Phone 1300 366 979 provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Australia (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/) licence. For the avoidance of doubt, this means this licence only applies to material as set out in this document. The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website (accessible using the links provided) as is the full legal code for the CC BY 4.0 AU licence (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). Use of the Coat of Arms The terms under which the Coat of Arms can be used are detailed on the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet website: https://www.pmc. gov.au/government/commonwealth-coat-arms Acknowledgements Design and print publication – New Age Graphics, Trendsetting Australasian Reporting Awards – Critique of 2018–19 Annual Report CONTENTS Tables and figures IV PART ONE: Comcare Annual Report 2019–20 1 Minister serving 2019–20 2 Letter of transmittal 3 Comcare CEO’s review 4 Chapter 1: Overview 9 Performance highlights 10 About Comcare 12 Chapter 2: Annual performance statements 2019–20 31 Overview 32 2019–20 Corporate Plan results summary 33 Links between the Corporate Plan and the Portfolio Budget Statements components in 2019–20 39 Strategic priority: Driving innovation and better practice 41 Strategic priority: Leading workers’ compensation insurer 51 Strategic priority: Effective national regulator 54 Strategic priority: Excellence in scheme design and management 61 Strategic priority: Efficient and effective operations 67 Chapter 3: Management and accountability 73 3.1 Our governance 74 3.2 External scrutiny 83 3.3 Our people 85 3.4 Our work health and safety management and performance 89 3.5 Financial review 93 COMCARE AND SRCC ANNUAL REPORTS 2019–20 II Chapter 4: Financial statements 97 Chapter 5: Appendices 159 Appendix A – Ecologically sustainable development and environmental performance 160 Appendix B – Compliance index 163 Appendix C – Corrections to previous annual report 167 PART TWO: Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (SRCC) Annual Report 2019–20 169 About this report 170 Minister serving 2019–20 170 Letter of transmittal – SRCC 171 Chairperson’s review 172 About the SRCC 174 Operation of the SRCC 176 Stakeholder engagement 179 Operation of licensees 180 Operation of the Licence Compliance and Performance Model (LCPM) 183 Glossary and index 191 Glossary 192 Alphabetical index 197 III COMCARE AND SRCC ANNUAL REPORTS 2019–20 TABLES AND FIGURES Tables Table 1: Comcare scheme workers’ compensation data 19 Table 2: Claim disputation rates 21 Table 3: Notifiable work health and safety incidents – as the national regulator 22 Table 4: Acting Executive team members during 2019–20 26 Table 5: Departed Comcare Executive team members during 2019–20 26 Table 6: 2019–20 Corporate Plan results summary 33 Table 7: Links between the Corporate Plan and the Portfolio Budget Statements components in 2019–20 39 Table 8: Notifiable incidents notified to Comcare under section 38 of the WHS Act 57 Table 9: Telecommunication Asbestos Safety Compliance Program activities commenced 57 Table 10: Inspectorate activities commenced 57 Table 11: Notices issued under the WHS Act 58 Table 12: Other statutory reporting requirements under the WHS Act 58 Table 13: Comcare’s Audit and Risk Committee 81 Table 14: All ongoing employees current report period (2019–20) 85 Table 15: All non-ongoing employees current report period (2019–20) 86 Table 16: All ongoing employees previous report period (2018–19) 86 Table 17: All non-ongoing employees previous report period (2018–19) 87 Table 18: Information about remuneration for key management personnel 88 Table 19: Mechanism of injury for Comcare accepted claims from 2016–17 to 2019–20 91 Table 20: Continuance rates – incapacity durations 92 Table 21: Comcare financial operating result 93 Table 22: Comcare historical funding ratio 94 Table 23: Comcare historical net premium liabilities 94 Table 24: Comcare’s environmental performance 2019–20 162 Table 25: SRCC meeting attendance 176 Table 26: Licence types, licensees and expiry dates – at 30 June 2020 180 Table 27: Licensees’ claims activity 186 Table 28: Performance against LKPIs – All licensees 188 Table 29: Recordkeeping requirements under the Directions 189 Figures Figure 1: Comcare’s purposes and strategic priorities 12 Figure 2: Responsibilities under the Commonwealth legislation 14 Figure 3: Comcare scheme coverage under the SRC Act 18 Figure 4: Scheme coverage – WHS Act 18 Figure 5: Comcare’s organisational chart as at 30 June 2020 27 Figure 6: Comcare’s office locations 28 COMCARE AND SRCC ANNUAL REPORTS 2019–20 IV ABOUT THESE REPORTS The Comcare and Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (SRCC) annual reports document the activities of Comcare and the SRCC, and the performance of the Comcare scheme from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020. These annual reports have been prepared in accordance with section 46 of the Public, Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act) and Subdivision B of Division 3A of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Amendment (Corporate Commonwealth Entity Annual Reporting) Rule 2014. PART ONE – Financial statements Comcare Annual Report 2019–20 The financial statements provide detailed information about Comcare’s financial The Comcare Annual Report 2019–20 complies performance. with the requirements contained in the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 Appendices (SRC Act), the Work Health and Safety Act The appendices contain further information 2011 (WHS Act), and the Public Governance, addressing mandatory reporting requirements Performance and Accountability Act 2013 under respective legislations. This section includes (PGPA Act). the legislative compliance index. Overview This section of the report provides an overview of PART TWO – Comcare. It details the objectives, functions, roles Safety, Rehabilitation and and responsibilities of Comcare and Comcare Compensation Commission Annual Executive. This section also highlights the overall Report 2019–20 performance of the Comcare scheme. The SRCC Annual Report 2019–20 complies with Annual Performance Statements the requirements of the SRC Act and the WHS Act. The annual performance statements provide This report details the objectives, roles, functions, information about Comcare’s performance in membership and operations of the SRCC. It 2019–20. also provides details about the performance of Management and accountability the SRCC. The management and accountability section details The SRCC does not have staff or a budget, so Comcare’s corporate governance, human resources financial statements are only prepared and reported and business capability. It includes information for Comcare. about Comcare’s Committees, financial review, internal and external scrutiny. V COMCARE AND SRCC ANNUAL REPORTS 2019–20 PART ONE: COMCARE ANNUAL REPORT 2019–20 Minister serving 2019–20 2 Letter of transmittal 3 Comcare CEO’s review 4 MINISTER SERVING 2019–20 Responsible minister at 30 June 2020 The Hon Christian Porter MP Attorney-General Minister for Industrial Relations Member for Pearce 2 COMCARE AND SRCC ANNUAL REPORTS 2019–20 PART ONE PART LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER 21 September 2020 The Hon Christian Porter MP Minister for Industrial Relations Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600 Dear Minister I am pleased to submit to you Comcare’s Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2020. The report meets the requirements of federal law including: > section 46 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 > schedule 2, section 3 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 > section 85 of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988. Following its tabling in Parliament, the report will be available on the Australian Government Transparency Portal and Comcare website. Yours sincerely Susan Weston Chief Executive Officer GPO BOX 9905 CANBERRA ACT 2601 P 1300 366 979 COMCARE.GOV.AU COMCARE AND SRCC ANNUAL REPORTS 2019–20 3 COMCARE CEO’S REVIEW Susan Weston PSM Chief Executive Officer As the CEO and sole director of Comcare, I am pleased to present Comcare’s Annual Report to the Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon Christian Porter MP, and the Australian Parliament on the performance of Comcare for the year ended 30 June 2020. Our purpose Comcare has several important roles. We are a work health and safety regulator, a scheme administrator and an insurer and claims manager. We also have essential enabling roles, focused on the capability and capacity of our own workforce and on supporting engagement and better practice approaches to health and safety across our scheme. For 2020–21, we have revised our organisational purpose to: promote and enable safe and healthy work. This new purpose reflects the connections between our different functions along the prevention – early intervention – injury management – compensation and