The " uncertainty " of disability cover !

Gaining compensation for any form of disability in Australia has long been a lottery.   For a start, the outcome will depend on which state legislation is involved, and then the next question will determine how, when and where that disability occurred.   Different legislation covers all forms of disability.  For some people, it is an accident of birth.  For others it may be caused by a sporting accident, or perhaps the result of a motor accident - or something as mundane as slipping over in the street because of a misplaced paving tile.

The " lucky ones " are those who come under well defined law categories - such as injury in a motor car accident.  Compensation schemes and strict laws are in place to dole out the money from funding such as the " Green slip " insurance cover each registration of a vehicle requires.   If the disability can be traced to an accident at work, then certainty improves because long established " Workcover " laws swing into place. No such certainty applies if the disability is caused by the onset of disease - or the sheer bad luck of having a small accident in the privacy of the victims home for which no blame can be apportioned.

The Commonwealth and the states all agree that Australia needs and deserves a better scheme under which all forms of disability compensation will be covered under a mutual umbrella.  A plan was presented at this weeks Council of Australian Governments ( COAG ) meeting to achieve just that result - but it did not gain approval because it divided along political lines.

The usual point of fracture arose - the division of costs to fund such an arrangement, and here there was a sharp divide between the Socialist governed states and those with Conservative administrations.  In what some would regard as " normal times ", when the government in office was expected to run it's full term, this disability issue would probably have been settled fairly quickly by negotiation.   The Commonwealth and the states would have hammered out an acceptable bargain and singed off on the deal.

These are not normal times.   We have a deeply wounded prime minister who is constantly looking over her shoulder for that tap which signals the end of her time in office.   She heads a government that is so on the nose with the voters that a massacre seems certain whenever it does go to a vote, and there are so many scandals and legal issues bubbling away under the surface that the sudden end of this administration is just one heart attack away at best.

The fragility of the government is such that there is no possibility of important issues receiving the degree of consideration they deserve.   Federal parliament has descended into a tactical battle between the two sides of politics - to the exclusion of all other matters.     Surely this can not continue until some time late in 2013 !

Basically, we have reached the stage where Australia no longer has a fully functioning parliament.   The divisions are too deep to be bridged and the only way this can be settled is to return the outcome to the voting public and let them decide.

Hopefully, a states person will emerge with the courage to tip the balance - and make that happen !