Monday Muses ~ the good the uncomfortable and ... ???????

Is this the end of the start or a start of yet another beginning?

Legislation

Legislation consists of Acts of Parliament and subordinate (or delegated) legislation made under Acts of Parliament.

The term legislation can refer to a single law (also known as a statute) or a collection of laws. ...

Judicial Determination 

Judicial determination is where parties, and their legal representation, present arguments to an impartial third party – a judge or magistrate – who then imposes a legally binding decision.

The process is significantly more formal than mediation, conciliation, and even arbitration.

Precedent

Precedent refers to a court decision that is considered as authority for deciding subsequent cases involving identical or similar facts, or similar legal issues. Precedent is incorporated into the doctrine of stare decisis and requires courts to apply the law in the same manner to cases with the same facts

Informed Decision

A decision based on facts or information.

Causal Link

If there is a causal relationship between two things, one thing is responsible for causing the other thing.

The Better Mouse Trap < A point of reference or a never-ending rabbit hole>

Each of us has that place, those words, that incident, that whatever regardless of time elapsed pins our feet to the floor and tells us to “hold on to whatever is strong enough” as the rabbit hole opens up. Although the configuration of a particular building has changed if it were possible, I would be able to go to that exact spot. I can still feel the weight of the floor lengthen woolen overcoat and remember just how grateful I was for the overcoat as I felt my knees buckle and my legs were shaking as the direction hit at seemingly point-blank range “if you don’t like it; build the better mouse trap” 

I made it back to my car, I sat there in rage indignation angst that remains beyond description and a xxxx you attitude.

What I know now and what I didn’t know then.

·        The Marksman was angry

·        The Marksman had given this very same direction to others

·        The Marksman knew I would not back down

·        The Marksman expected and required outcomes unseen and unheard of in the oxygen depleted air of workers compensation

·        The Marksman never left any outcome to chance.

Time to move

I wrote, refined, re-wrote, scrapped, started again Craig’s Table numerous times over many years. I read legislation to the point where I could all but quote sections of Acts and cross overs between the various jurisdictions. I read psychology, I read neuroplasticity, I read white papers (there is nothing quite like curling up on a cold winter day with a good white paper and a glass of red wine) I read research papers, I read PhD submissions, I read Reviews and Reports and subway walls.

I wrote outlines, I wrote and wrote. In the writing I found a way to make a visual representation of what (I truly believed) others already knew.

I wrote a programme and named it the WorkCover Merry-Go-Round I put it on a CD and asked a non-workers compensation friend to “play the game” over a weekend. He agreed to my request, after all it was “just a game”. It really couldn’t be that difficult to get in- get what was required- get out-get on with life.

Its important to note here that at that time from my front door to my friends front door even with the occasional red traffic light was just 45 minutes. (a tad longer if I was caught at a train crossing)

I set up the game, explained the basics and left.

• My phone rang less than 30 minutes later. “Turn around, come back get this ****** thing off of my computer, there is no way out” Complete with expletives I had never heard my friend use in all the years I had known him.

Next: I cleared my sun room of everything that I could possibly move, I used sticky notes, sheets of note pad, butchers paper, floor to ceiling windows and glass sliding doors, numerous colours of marking pens, I used lengths of knitting wool, balls of string, rolls of parcel ribbon I turned what was inside my mind into what I named the Workers Compensation Food Chain. I presented that at a public forum (the system was none to impressed)

My start point for the better mouse trap was outside of the known workers compensation process, my reasoning was basic, my understanding came from the view point of the injured worker community. It is not for me to do more than ponder if the start point was an advantage or a coincidence. The biggest and most continuous mistake that the workers compensation system makes o’er and o’er again is that the system knows everything it needs to know and that the system is the “self-anointed holder of all knowledge” Piffle.

The iteration of Craig’s Table that was in place when the invitation arrived to move to Sydney from Adelaide was a mixture of locked in and flexibility. The framework to engage the injured worker community was solid the engagement was flexible.

I left Adelaide with a set of clear instructions from the Marksman

·        Always hold to True North (came with a compass) (just in case I forgot)

·        Always keep the lines of communication open (especially during the tough times)

·        Always be mindful of the injured worker community

·        Always be respectful of those who are in position where respect is required

·        Never create a ministerial unless every other option has been exhausted. (22:38-27:35) always be able to defend a created ministerial should that be required. (as at time of writing I have not been required to defend what was said) (I have had to defend many ministerial in the past, I know the process quite well)

There will be some/many who will hand on heart say that I have held to each dot point; likewise, there will be some/many who will say I breached each dot point. For me it is a mixture of both; I oft need to remind The Marksman he also says “its better to ask for forgiveness than permission”.

Newsletter/industry subscriptions

Every year my accountant asks me the same question in regards to the number newsletters and workers compensation industry and related information services that I subscribe to. It’s a tick box question. I admit I do spend more than even I think is tolerable, however after what I found this last week, I have promised myself I will never grumble again.??????

There really was nothing to go on other than the illogical belief that somewhere in the collection of newsletters subscriptions internet searches there had to be what I was looking for. That’s the thing about rabbit holes, for all the dead ends there is always the right one to keep looking through.

 A few weeks back (almost out of time) I responded to an industry “questionnaire” this was only question I failed to answer because at the time even though I knew there was an answer, I simply was running out of allotted time to submit responses. Had I known then what I know now, this would have been the only question I would have responded to.

Where to now

Aeons back (okay maybe not that far back) The Marksman gave me a list of dot points to work to and be guided by. The following are the ones most relevant to the current situation.

·        Think solution first and work backwards from there.

·        Believe there is ALWAYS a better way (then find it) (I added the last bit)

·        Don’t listen to naysayers or doomsdayers.

·        Predict and remember who you are working for and what you are working towards.

·        Befriend your enemy (it seems I have a lot of them) Progress needs all of us.

·        Be brave. Take risks. Stay focused (True North).

Last Wednesday night I found the haystack, then I found the needle. It was the most gut-wrenching heart shattering rush of adrenaline I have experienced in a very long time.

Reading it, re-reading it, sending it to the usual suspects to read, trying to calm down enough to sleep (failed miserably), needing to check it against many other resources. I knew I had to slow down and apply due diligence.

It was the longest wait to have everyone I asked come back to say that what I was reading was exactly what I knew should be/needs to be in place.

One by one the responses came back in the affirmative. I had also continued to read through the piles of documents that I have collected over the years, I scanned Hansards, Reviews and Reports and Research papers. One of the “usual suspects” called to ask if I understood the depth of what had been hiding in clear sight, I responded with I had glimpsed a fraction of it, but in all honesty at that stage I wasn’t quite game enough to hope. After all utopia is not a word every looked for let alone found within the workers compensation concept. Utopia is a big call to make its up there with really finding Lasseter’s Reef .

Even now as I sit here I have yet to understand the full impact this precedent will have/should have/must have I do know it is more than just a jump to the left or Dorothy making her way home. I digress; the implications of this legal precedent may/will require far more than my collection of usual suspects have spoken about.

I started on this odyssey way back in 1998 when I was given a copy of the Grellman Report, the direction was set when the Injured Worker Focus Group came into being. Over the many years layer after layer of knowledge and knowing formulated Craig’s Table-the injured worker community opened up and trusted what Craig’s Table was doing and what Craig’s Table was finding. Unlike the go point on the monopoly board the vast majority of the time there was no collecting $200, it was more like find a way to cover all the costs involved cross fingers and hope for the best.

Every time I have felt that there was nothing more to give nothing more to find nothing more that could be done the needs of a member of the injured worker community would rise and the call needed to be answered money or not. As I have said many times in many places there is no harder funeral to stand at than the funeral of someone who has reached the point of lost hope.

Whoever it was who sent the confidential Review that I authored (for two very defined people) to icac set of a chain of events that forced my hand into a direction I otherwise may not have thought to go. I believe that their intention was to silence me and to discredit Craig’s Table -whoops that didn’t work.

.

Opinion Piece

15th November 2020.

There is a time to be silent and to watch, and there is a time to step forward to speak softly but with intent because the level of tolerance required to remain silent can no longer be sustained.

Mayhaps the time to speak softly is also over:

Craig’s Table has always worked to achieve equity and balance within the intention of the workers compensation legislation and the workers compensation process. Even when the naysayers and the doomsdayers were going out of their way to hinder and impede Craig’s Table always had the strength that comes from being within a community.

What others make of all I have written here is actually none of my concern. I will publish what I have found in a coming Monday Muses, I just have one more thing to do.

For now though it is time to head into my kitchen to see what I can put together for dinner.

Before I go on behalf of Craig's Table I wish each and everyone a Blessed Christmas.

Yours in service

Rosemary