Comcare to improve claim systems in wake of Ombudsman’s report

Media release

Comcare CEO Paul O’Connor today welcomed the Ombudsman’s scrutiny and reinforced Comcare’s acknowledgement of the findings.

“Comcare again apologises to the people affected – we recognise that coping with injury and disability has major challenges and the right level of support compensation is important.”

“We have already used the findings in the Ombudsman’s report to improve our systems.”

The legislation under which Comcare operates does not allow workers to make claims under the normal compensation scheme for defective administration which covers most Australian Government agencies. Comcare has identified other solutions to address the gap.

Mr O’Connor noted that the Ombudsman had commended Comcare for action it had taken to address the recommendations in his report, including actively seeking to recompense the workers for financial losses they suffered as a result of the late payment of their entitlements.

“We agree with the Ombudsman’s report that workers should be able to trust Comcare – it is a fundamental principle and one that we are striving to achieve. We’re an organisation prepared to reflect, learn from our mistakes and improve what we do,” Mr O’Connor said.

“The particular difficulties in fixing these problems were also observed by the Department of Finance and Deregulation.”

Mr O’Connor said the Comcare scheme had been in existence for 21 years and its processes were being modernised to respond to demographic and technology changes.

“We are currently strengthening our service delivery through a new strategic plan to focus on improving care and support for injured workers when they deal with us.”

 - end -

Media inquiries:
Ph: 1300 366 979
Email: media@comcare.gov.au

Media release - Comcare to improve claim systems in wake of Ombudsman’s report [pdf]