Sarah Courtney,Minister for Building and Construction
Tasmanian Government Employees are a step closer to receiving better support for work-related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
The Hodgman Liberal Government's nation-leading legislation has now received Royal Assent, which means Tasmania's public sector servants can more readily access work-related compensation for diagnosed PTSD.
Our legislation is the first of its kind in Australia, and makes Tasmania the first jurisdiction in the nation to legislate a presumptive provision that a PTSD diagnosis is work-related.
The presumption has applied in practice as of 30 October last year, when Tasmanian Government agencies, Government Business Enterprises and State-Owned Companies were instructed to automatically accept diagnosed claims for PTSD compensation as work-related.
I am immensely proud that the legislative amendments required to enshrine these changes in Tasmanian law, have now been enacted.
The Hodgman Liberal Government is paving the way to ensuring there is proper recognition of this debilitating mental condition.
These nation-leading changes apply to all Tasmanian Government employees, and are of particular benefit to Tasmania's hardworking paramedics, police officers, firefighters, prison guards and other emergency service workers who keep our community safe in sometimes traumatic and trying circumstances.
