Monday Muses ~ sometimes there really is only one thing that is possible!

Australian Anti-Poverty Week for the injured worker community poverty in all its ugly forms is very real. Poverty is not just money or income; it is inability to gain employment despite qualifications or industry knowledge. Poverty is being discarded from the interview process simply because there is a gap on a resume and the question on the application form “have you ever claimed workers compensation?” poverty is being overlooked for internal promotions simply because there are unspoken questions due to an at-work workers compensation claim. ?Poverty of respect being told “not” to say anything about a workers compensation claim as though it is a stain or a crime to have gone to a place of employment and sustained a workplace injury. Poverty for the injured worker community is not being included within the official labour force count by the ABS.?Poverty is loss of self-belief and self-respect because the urban myth says that a person with a workplace injury is a risk. Truth is the only way a person can sustain a workplace injury is to be employed. I can hand on heart say that in the 20+ years I have been working in and working with members of the injured worker community I have met just 5 people who were determined to not return to the workplace.?Because the ABS doesn't record the number of people within the injured worker community ACOSS cannot include the societal ills found within the injured worker community. Without this very simple recognition the injured worker community is and remains invisible.

This morning on the radio there was a short promotion for a evening programme about the Australian labour force, I sent a quick email to the presenter outlining that Australia has an unseen undocumented workforce. I don’t expect to get a response not because the information I provided wasn’t accurate but because the information provided would have altered the entire programmes narrative. Again, this is a form of poverty, it is the lack of willingness to discuss a very real situation for far too many people.

Oddly last week I was asked the same question by 2 very different people from 2 different parts of the world; “if there was one thing you could do to change your work what would it be?” I didn’t need to think about the answer because it is the same answer I have given over the last many years. I would remove the outdated requirement for claim numbers.?Claims numbers reduce a person to a file number, it removes the ability of a person to be identified as themselves. ?In this day of computer logic where it is possible to misspell a word but have a search engine locate what it being looked for, claim numbers have simply outlived their usefulness. One of the people who asked me the question wasn’t quite sure what I was speaking about so I asked him to look at his drivers licence and read out his name as written on the licence, I asked how comfortable his own name felt to him; he responded that his name was his name and it was very comfortable. I then asked him to read his drivers licence number and just how much of the drivers licence number felt like him? ?After a short silence he admitted that the drivers licence number felt unfamiliar and did not in anyway reflect on him as a person. I asked him again why should it be that every official communication within the 11 different Australian workers compensation jurisdictions that the injured worker is required to start the communication with their workers compensation claim number? The person I was speaking with is a very senior person within workers compensation the silence was rather strange, then he said “I guess it is just what has always been done.”

Today I responded to the request to offer a Review for the McDougall Review. I am certain that my response will not be received with joy. I am certain though that what I said needed to be said and I will deal with the consequences of my actions. Over the weekend I have spoken with some advisors who never cut me any slack, we discussed what options were in place Option 1” walk away and say nothing knowing I was letting down the injured worker community” Option 2 “say what needs to be said and hope that the injured worker community could find a way to forgive me.”?As The Marksman always tells me it’s often better to ask for forgiveness, in this instance I promise I had done all that was possible before I took this last step. One of the advisors asked me why was I hesitating; my answer was that the hardest thing for me to do is to hurt in any manner anyone from the injured worker community, they know me to be always standing to defend them. The advisor asked what part of what needed to be said would not be defending the injured worker community; to that I had no response. So now as the saying goes the ball is well and truly in someone else’s control.

On a personal note I have had to make very hard decisions over many years, I have had to seemingly walk away from people so they had no choice but to stand on their own, I have had to suspend co-workers for breaches of trust (that cut me far more than I was able to ever say) I have stood in the rain with a beautiful person and lied to her that if she just stepped away from the edge everything would be alright knowing all the time I was saying what had to be said not what was correct. Sending the response to the McDougall Review was not in the least bit difficult except for the part where I knew it would hurt the very people I love beyond everything. As I sit here this evening my only hope that The Marksman is correct because I never wanted to hurt any of the injured worker community.?

Order in the Court With Judge Robert Rassp

BUDDY RICH VS. ANIMAL FROM THE MUPPETS Swedish Chef Popcorn

Best of BBC Talking Animals

Once more thank you for all the personal messages regarding becoming a finalist for the Comp Laude Humanitarian Award each of you have humbled me. People I have not heard from in a very long time reached out, others said that they have followed the path I have been walking. Truly I do thank each and everyone.

Now it is time to make a cup of tea and prepare dinner.

Yours in service

Rosemary