Under s 134AB of the Accident Compensation Act 1985 (Vic), once a worker establishes that a compensable injury is a serious injury (whether by certificate, deeming, or court leave), the worker may recover common law damages for all components of the compensable injury suffered in the workplace accident, not merely those components that individually satisfy the serious injury definition. The serious injury provisions operate as a gateway to common law claims, not as a limitation on the scope of recoverable injuries. A serious injury certificate limited to particular injuries (e.g., psychological injuries) does not confine the worker's common law claim to those injuries alone.
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