Where an employer obtains a licence under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cth), it ceases to be an 'employer' for the purposes of s 17(1) of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), and a worker's gradual onset hearing loss is deemed to have occurred on the last day before the licence came into force. Any entitlement that accrued under the State Act before the licence is preserved by s 108A(7)(b) of the Commonwealth Act. The State and Commonwealth Acts each apply in their own terms, and different deemed dates of injury under each scheme are not anomalous.
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