Australians for Mental Health is expressing its dismay over a planned watering down of workers compensation rights, amid a rise in workplace psychological injuries.
The NSW government has released details about the alarming rise in workers compensation claims associated with psychological injury, and some concerning proposals that would make it harder for workers to seek redress for injuries sustained at work.
"Workplace mental health is in crisis. But instead of getting serious about enforcing the law and reducing needless harm to thousands of people, the Minns government is proposing to go soft on bosses who do the wrong thing," the Executive Director of Australians for Mental Health Chris Gambian said.
"Mental ill-health affects so many Australians, and in New South Wales, we are going to see it become harder to get support. We don't need to target the system that props people up who are struggling, we need to focus on eliminating the harm some workplaces are causing," he said.
Australians for Mental Health is advocating for governments to do more to help dismantle harmful workplace culture, and create environments that protect and nurture people's mental wellbeing.
"By making it harder to get compensation for a psychological injury, we will simply be abandoning people in a tough situation, while harmful workplaces remain unchanged. That's not good enough," Chris Gambian said.
Australians spend a third of their lives at work and it is often the trigger for anxiety and depression, as well as exacerbating other mental health conditions. We need stronger protections against workplace stress and mandatory mental health training for all managers as a minimum. But we also need to get serious about "normal" practices that are making people sick: like excessive overtime, bullying cultures, staff shortages and unrealistic workloads.
Australians for Mental Health has vowed to fight any changes that will soften the risks for employers who do the wrong thing.
I would urge the Premier to re-think his priorities. Going easy on irresponsible managers and bosses will only perpetuate poor workplace culture, and make it harder for people to escape them."
