The Full Court granted permission to appeal on the construction of 'employment was a significant contributing cause of the injury' in s 7(2)(a) of the Return to Work Act 2014 (SA), identifying three key unresolved questions: whether the phrase merely excludes injuries with only a temporal connection to work; whether 'significant' differs from the common law concept of material or effective cause; and whether any heightened causal requirement extends to the natural sequelae of a work injury. The Court noted the phrase's qualification of the traditional workers' compensation test is 'problematic' and that its proper construction critically affects the operation of the Act. The substantive questions remain unresolved pending the hearing of the appeal.
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