Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988
Part VIII
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA
NOTICE OF VARIATION OF LICENCE
Notice No 9 of 2017
Background
- Reserve Bank of Australia, ABN 50 008 559 486 (the Licensee), is a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of Part VIII of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cth) (the SRC Act).
B. The Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (the Commission), acting under sections 103 and 104 of the SRC Act, granted a licence to the Licensee on 11 June 2004 with a commencement date of 1 July 2004.
C. The Commission, acting under section 105(1) of the SRC Act, varies the scope of the licence as follows:
(i) Clause 8 of the licence is omitted and replaced by the following:
Scope of Licence – management of claims
8. Australian Postal Corporation, ABN 28 864 970 579 (the Claims Manager) is authorised to manage, on behalf of the Licensee:
(a) claims under the SRC Act made by the employees of the Licensee who are covered by the scope of this licence so far as it relates to the Licensee’s acceptance of liability in accordance with clause 7 of this licence; and
(b) if before this licence came into force the Licensee held a licence under the repealed Part VIIIA or Part VIIIB of the SRC Act, any claims made to the Licensee in its capacity as a licence holder under that Part that had not been finally and completely dealt with when this licence came into force.
(ii) Clauses 9, 10 and 11 of the licence are omitted.
D. The Commission, acting under subsection 108D(2) of the SRC Act, varies the conditions of the licence as follows:
(i) ‘Claims Manager’ conditions (conditions 25 to 30) have been inserted to impose obligations on the Licensee and Claims Manager with respect to the management of claims;
(ii) the ‘Information and reporting requirements’ conditions have been varied to allow both Comcare and the Commission to request the production of information (including data) and note the intended uses of this information;
(iii) the ‘Prudential conditions’ and ‘Definitions’ have been varied to reflect the new prudential conditions of licence adopted by the Commission; and
(iv) references to conditions have been updated where necessary to reflect these amendments.
E. The variations take effect at the beginning of 1 July 2017 (Australian Eastern Standard Time).
F. The scope and conditions of the licence are as set out below.
Licence
Part 1 – Interpretation
Interpretation
- Unless the contrary intention appears, expressions used in this instrument have the same meaning as in the SRC Act.[1]
Definitions
2. In this licence:
(a) APRA means the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority;
(b) Document means document as that word is defined by section 2B of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth);
(c) Financial Year means the financial year that applies to the licensee under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth);
(d) Liability Report has the meaning as defined in condition 33;
(e) Licensee includes, where the context permits, the Claims Manager;
(f) Outstanding Claim Liability has the meaning as defined in the Institute of Actuaries in Australia Professional Standard 300 “Valuations of General Insurance Claims”, or any standard substituted thereof; and
(g) Risk Free Rate means the rates to be used in discounting the expected future claims payments of insurance liabilities denominated in Australian currency as determined in accordance with APRA Prudential Standard GPS 320 “Actuarial and Related Matters”, or any standard substituted thereof.
Part 2 – Grant of Licence
Eligible applicant
3. The Licensee is a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of Part VIII of the SRC Act.
Licence decisions
4. The Commission, acting under sections 103 and 104 of the SRC Act, granted a licence to the Licensee on 11 June 2004 for the period commencing on 1 July 2004 and ending on 30 June 2007 as notified by Notice No. 4 of 2004 in Commonwealth Gazette No. P4 on 30 June 2004.
5. Following its commencement, the licence has been varied or extended by the Commission on:
(i) 25 June 2007 as notified by Notice No. 18 of 2007, Commonwealth Gazette No. S121 on 27 June 2007;
(ii) 18 June 2008 as notified by Notice No. 30 of 2008, Commonwealth Gazette No. GN 25 on 25 June 2008;
(iii) 15 June 2011 as notified by Notice No. 8 of 2011, Commonwealth Gazette No. GN 24 on 22 June 2011;
(iv) 2 July 2015 as notified by Notice No. 7 of 2015, Gazette reference number C2015G01080, published on 3 July 2015; and
(v) 1 July 2016 as notified by Notice No. 35 of 2016, Gazette reference number C2016G00926, published on 4 July 2016.
Period of licence
6. Subject to the SRC Act, this licence is for the period commencing immediately after midnight (Australian Eastern Daylight Time) on 1 July 2004 and, in accordance with the most recent extension, ending at midnight (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on 30 June 2023 (the period of this licence).
Part 3 – Scope of Licence
Scope of licence – acceptance of liability
7. The Licensee is authorised to accept liability to pay compensation and other amounts under the SRC Act in respect of all injuries, loss or damage suffered by, or in respect of the death of, any of the employees of the Licensee where such injuries, loss, damage or death:
(a) occur within the period of this licence; or
(b) occurred in the period commencing on 1 May 1996 and ending when this licence came into force.
Scope of licence – management of claims
8. Australian Postal Corporation, ABN 28 864 970 579 (the Claims Manager) is authorised to manage, on behalf of the Licensee:
(a) claims under the SRC Act made by the employees of the Licensee who are covered by the scope of this licence so far as it relates to the Licensee’s acceptance of liability in accordance with clause 7 of this licence; and
(b) if before this licence came into force the Licensee held a licence under the repealed Part VIIIA or Part VIIIB of the SRC Act, any claims made to the Licensee in its capacity as a licence holder under that Part that had not been finally and completely dealt with when this licence came into force.
Part 4 – Conditions of licence
Conditions of licence
9. The licence is granted subject to the following conditions.
General conditions
Communication
10. The Licensee, when bringing employees under its self-insurance licence pursuant to any consolidation or amalgamation process, must provide information to those employees regarding the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) (the WHS Act) and the SRC Act prior to those employees becoming employees of the Licensee.
11. The Licensee must provide information regarding the operation of the WHS Act and the SRC Act to all new employees as part of the licensee’s employee induction process.
Directions of Commission
12. The Licensee must comply with any written directions, whether general or in respect of a particular matter or class of matters, given by the Commission generally, or to the Licensee directly, with respect to the performance by the Licensee of its functions or the exercise of its powers under the SRC Act.
Requirements
13. The Licensee must comply with the requirements of:
(a) the SRC Act, its Regulations and any applicable guidelines issued by the Commission under section 73A of the SRC Act;
(b) any applicable laws of the Commonwealth, States or Territories with respect to the safety, health and rehabilitation of employees, with a particular focus on the statutory requirements for genuine consultation with employees and their representatives; and
(c) the relevant Privacy legislation.
14. The Licensee must have regard to guidelines issued by the Privacy Commissioner under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and must comply with any such guidelines dealing with covert surveillance of employees.
Fees
15. The Licensee must pay the licence fee notified in writing to the Licensee under section 104A of the SRC Act within one month of receiving the notification.
16. On written request from the Commission, the licensee must pay other fees relating to the Licensee’s operations under the SRC Act, in the amount and within the timeframe, specified by the Commission.
Manner of managing claims
17. In managing claims, the Licensee:
(a) must be guided by equity, good conscience and the substantial merits of the case without regard to technicalities;
(b) is not required to conduct a hearing; and
(c) is not bound by the rules of evidence.
Management systems
18. The Licensee must co-operate with, and give reasonable assistance to, the Commission or its representatives in respect of any targeted reviews and evaluations of the Licensee to be conducted by the Commission or its representatives.
19. The Licensee must report to the Commission as required in accordance with the Performance Standards and Measures to demonstrate that it has maintained its Claims Management, Rehabilitation and WHS management systems, as advised to Comcare.
Reviews and proceedings
20. The Licensee must inform Comcare as soon as practicable of any court or tribunal proceedings in relation to a matter arising in respect of a claim managed by the Licensee under the SRC Act.
21. The Licensee must give to Comcare, within the timeframe specified in the request, any information or documents that Comcare requests in respect of any court or tribunal proceedings in relation to a matter arising in respect of a claim managed by the Licensee under the SRC Act.
22. The Licensee must not cause, or permit to be made on its behalf to a court or tribunal any submission that Comcare or the Commission requests the Licensee not to make.
Failure to comply with conditions or change in circumstances
23. The Licensee must notify Comcare in writing as soon as practicable of any event or likely event that is relevant to the application of the SRC Act to the Licensee, this may include but is not limited to:
(a) the Licensee has not complied with, or is likely to fail to comply with, a condition of this licence; or
(b) any change that may impact on the Licensee’s capacity to meet its liabilities under the SRC Act, including change to the Licensee’s underlying financial position; or
(c) changes to its legal structure, ownership or control; or
(d) any significant change in its employee numbers or significant change in the risk profile of the work undertaken by its employees.
Information and reporting requirements
24. On written request of the Commission or Comcare, the Licensee must give to the Commission or Comcare as specified, within the timeframe specified in the request,
such information (including data) relating to the Licensee’s operations under the SRC Act in the form and at the place specified in the request.
Note: Comcare and the Commission will use information (including data) given to it by the Licensee under this condition for any authorised purposes. The uses that Comcare will generally make of this information (including data) are outlined in the Comcare and Self-Insured Licensee Information Protocol.
Claims Manager
25. The Licensee is authorised to manage claims and is responsible for ensuring the Claims Manager complies with the relevant conditions of this licence.
26. The Licensee must enter into and maintain a written contract with the Claims Manager and give a copy of the contract to the Commission if requested.
27. The Licensee must ensure that each of the obligations imposed by this licence on the Claims Manager are included in the contract between the Licensee and the Claims Manager and that the Claims Manager warrants, under the contract, to comply with the conditions imposed by this licence.
28. In addition to other conditions in this licence which are applicable to the Claims Manager, the Claims Manager must:
(a) not do, or omit to do, anything which would put the Licensee in breach of any term or condition of this licence;
(b) not undertake, or cause to be undertaken, any surveillance of an employee, unless it has the prior written approval of the Licensee;
(c) implement appropriate structures and mechanisms to ensure the consistent application of policy and procedures in respect of the management of claims;
(d) when requested in writing by the Commission to provide information to it, to provide the information to the Commission in the timeframe specified in the request;
(e) provide the Commission or its representative with unrestricted access to documents and records in the possession or control of the Claims Manager in so far as the documents relate to matters arising under the SRC Act; and
(f) inform the Licensee as soon as practicable after it becomes aware that the Claims Manager has done or omitted to do something which has the effect that the Licensee is, or is likely to be, in breach of a term or condition of this licence.
29. The Licensee must be accountable for all claims management policies issued by the Claims Manager and the recording and forwarding of claims management data to Comcare as requested.
30. The Licensee must notify the Commission in writing as soon as practicable after it becomes aware that the Claims Manager has done, or omitted to do, something which has the effect that the Licensee is, or is likely to be, in breach of a term or condition of this licence.
Specific conditions
Previous licence holders
31. Where any claim that was made to the Licensee in its capacity as a licence holder had not been finally and completely dealt with at the time that this licence is granted, the terms and conditions of this licence apply to the management of such a claim in the same manner as they apply to any other claims within the scope of this licence.
Performance conditions
32. The Licensee must comply with the Performance Standards and Measures approved by the Commission from time to time.
Prudential conditions
Liability report
33. The Licensee must commission a written report (the Liability Report) in respect of each Financial Year and calculated as at the end of that Financial Year.
34. The Liability Report:
(a) must be prepared by a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia (IAA), or any body substituted thereof, with at least five years’ post-qualification experience as an actuary in general insurance;
(b) must be prepared by an actuary who is not an employee or a partner of the organisation which provides financial audit services to the Licensee or who in any way has a material financial dependence on the auditor;
(c) be prepared drawing on any available expert advice and substantially using IAA Professional Standard 300 “Valuations of General Insurance Claims”, or any standard substituted thereof, as the basis of estimation, with any departure from this standard to be highlighted in the report;
(d) must be prepared using the Risk Free Rate in discounting the expected future claims payments of insurance liabilities;
(e) must be addressed by the actuary to the Commission; and
(f) must be provided by the Licensee to the Commission within 131 days of the end of the Financial Year to which it relates.
Note: If the actuary determines the Risk Free Rate using instruments other than Commonwealth Government Securities that relate to the term of the future claim liability cash flows of the Licensee, the actuary must justify the reason for doing so in the Liability Report.
35. The Liability Report must:
(a) estimate the Outstanding Claim Liability of the Licensee to pay compensation and other amounts under the SRC Act in accordance with the scope of this licence as follows:
(i) contain a recommendation for the level of provisions in the Licensee’s accounts which must be made to at least the net unbiased estimate of the mean (statistical expectation) of the Outstanding Claim Liability; and
(ii) contain a valuation of current Outstanding Claim Liability and the projected Outstanding Claim Liability in one year’s time; and
(b) contain a breakdown of the current and non-current liability components of the Licensee’s Outstanding Claim Liability as estimated in accordance with condition 35(a).
36. The Commission may at its discretion submit a Liability Report to a peer review process.
37. After receiving a peer review assessment of a Liability Report, the Commission may by written notice to the Licensee require a Second Liability Report by an actuary approved by the Commission.
38. If any of the changes in circumstances outlined in condition 23(b), (c) or (d) occur, the Commission may, by written notice to the Licensee, require the Licensee to obtain an Updated Liability Report that is to be prepared in accordance with conditions 33 to 35.
39. The Commission may direct the date for provision of a Second Liability Report and/or an Updated Liability Report.
40. Unless the Commission directs otherwise, the Licensee must pay for a Second Liability Report and/or an Updated Liability Report.
41. If the Commission receives a Second Liability Report or an Updated Liability Report, it (or, where the Commission receives both a Second Liability Report and an Updated Liability Report, the most recent of these reports) replaces the original Liability Report and:
(a) references in this licence to the Liability Report are to be construed as references to the Second Liability Report or the Updated Liability Report (whichever is applicable); and
(b) references in this licence to the actuary who prepares the Liability Report are to be construed as references to the actuary who prepares the Second Liability Report or the Updated Liability Report (whichever is applicable).
Yearly Accounts
42. The Licensee must:
(a) lodge with the Commission a copy of its annual report for the Financial Year within 7 days after its first tabling in Parliament; and
(b) include, and identify, in any report referred to in condition 42(a), provision for meeting the Licensee’s Outstanding Claim Liability (current and non-current) under the SRC Act in accordance with the scope of this licence as at the end of the Financial Year to which the report relates.
43. The Licensee must ensure that:
(a) the provision mentioned in condition 42(b) is consistent with the written evaluation in the Liability Report of the Licensee’s Outstanding Claim Liability (current and non-current) for the Financial Year; and
(b) any apparent discrepancies in the provision mentioned in condition 42(b) and the written evaluation in the Liability Report of the Licensee’s Outstanding Claim Liability (current and non-current) for the Financial Year are explained in the notes section of the report in which the provision mentioned in condition 42(b) is included and identified.
Dated the 14th day of June 2017.
Barry Sherriff
Chairperson
Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission
[1] For the purposes of this licence, the definition of claim prescribed by section 99 of the SRC Act applies.