Mr MARK SPEAKMAN: My question is directed to the Premier. What is the latest information on the New South Wales Workers Compensation Scheme?

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL: I thank the member for Cronulla for his question. This is an important matter. WorkCover is a vital scheme for the State's three million workers. There are 270,000 WorkCover policies across the State. Earlier this month the New South Wales Government received an update on the New South Wales Workers Compensation Scheme from PricewaterhouseCoopers, and it made for alarming reading. By the end of last year the deficit was at $4.1 billion—a deterioration of $1.7 billion negative turnaround in just six months. That debt is the equivalent of $15,000 for every employer in the State and just over $1,300 for every employee. The scheme's deficit between June and December 2011 increased at an alarming rate of $9 million a day.

Another alarming statistic is that the rate of serious workplace injury in New South Wales is higher than in the industrialised states of South Australia and Western Australia. New South Wales has a lower proportion of people engaged in blue collar or what is regarded as more risky industry than is the case in those two States. We need to do everything we can to drive down the rate of workplace injury in New South Wales. That is one of the reasons when we came to office that we sought to implement the Federal Government's proposal for harmonised occupational health and safety laws. It is estimated that if this State could reduce its rate of serious workplace injury to the rates that exist in Western Australia and South Australia, that is, by just one serious injury per 1,000 across the State, there would be 8,500 fewer WorkCover claims each year, and that would save in the order of $230 million.

The fact is that WorkCover premiums are a handbrake on jobs in New South Wales. While this State has performed well over the past 12 months, creating an additional 20,000 jobs while other States and jurisdictions are losing jobs, we cannot rest on those laurels. I understand that families are concerned about their jobs. We want to do everything possible to encourage jobs growth in New South Wales. Just think about the costs of WorkCover. For a construction company with a wages bill of $250,000, the annual WorkCover premium is currently $12,600. If the scheme were to continue without change, that premium would increase by more than $3,500 to $16,000—six times higher than the equivalent premium in Victoria and twice as high as the premium for the same company in Queensland.

A small cafe or restaurant in western Sydney that employs 11 people pays a base premium of around $8,600. If we were to do nothing, that premium would increase by more than $2,400 a year to $11,000—more than double its Queensland counterpart and more than five times what a similar Victorian cafe would pay. There was no leadership by the former Labor Government on this issue. It tossed it in the too hard basket. I simply refer to a report in the Sun-Herald on 19 February which reported the former Labor appointed Chairman of WorkCover Greg McCarthy as saying:

They just weren't interested and did not listen to my warnings. No one since John Della Bosca has pulled the levers at all.

Of course, after John Della Bosca there were three Ministers responsible for WorkCover: Eric Roozendaal, the much-missed Joe Tripodi, and the member for Maroubra, who for most of the time after John Della Bosca left was the Minister responsible for WorkCover. Labor's appointee as the Chairman of WorkCover said that they were not interested. It was simply put in the too hard basket. What is the result?

Mr Michael Daley: Point of order: The Premier should read the rest of the letter.

The SPEAKER: Order! That is not a point of order and the member knows it.

Mr Michael Daley: And detail what his Minister Greg Pearce did.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat.

Mr Michael Daley: He refused to meet with Greg McCarthy as well.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat. I call the member for Maroubra to order.

Mr Michael Daley: If the Premier can produce one piece of paper with Greg McCarthy's advice on it—

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Maroubra to order for the second time.

Mr Michael Daley: —I would like to see it.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Maroubra to order for the third time. I asked him to resume his seat and he refused. The Premier has the call.

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL: If the member for Maroubra has a problem with the former Chairman of WorkCover, he should take it up with him. The fact is that Labor saw WorkCover as a cash cow. We are going to get on with the job. We are going to tackle this problem. We will have proposals within the month, because we know we need to ensure that injured workers get the best possible and most timely result in returning to a productive and appropriate working life, and make sure that individuals with catastrophic injury are looked after in the way that any of us would want to see our loved ones cared for in that situation. We will fix this mess as we will fix so many other messes left to us by those opposite.