Return to Work Act 2014

The Crown is the presumptive employer of persons of a prescribed class who voluntarily perform work of a prescribed class that is of benefit to the State (and the Crown therefore has the liabilities of a self‑insured employer in relation to persons of that class).

Where a person of a class prescribed under subclause (1) suffers a work injury while performing the work to which the prescription relates—

the question of whether and, if so, to what extent the person is incapacitated for work must be determined according to the employment (including self‑employment) in which the person was otherwise engaged at the commencement of the incapacity or, if the person was not then engaged in other employment, by reference to employment for which he or she was then reasonably fitted; and

subject to paragraph (c), the average weekly earnings of the person must be determined—

if the person was self-employed, by reference to the remuneration that the person would have received if he or she had been doing the same work in employment; or

if the person was not employed, by reference to the remuneration that the person would have received if he or she had been working in employment for which he or she was reasonably fitted, and if there is an award or industrial agreement applicable to that class of employment, by reference to that award or agreement; and

where—

the person dies; and

a claim for compensation is made by a person claiming to be a dependant of the deceased; and

the deceased and the claimant were both members of a partnership or proprietary company and the predominant work of the deceased before the date of death was in the business of that partnership or company, then for the purposes of determining whether the claimant was a dependant of the deceased and, if so, the extent of the dependency, any income derived by the claimant from the partnership or company during the deceased's lifetime will (to the extent that the income is attributable to the deceased's work on behalf of the partnership or company) be taken to be an allowance made by the deceased, out of the deceased's own income, for the maintenance of the claimant.

For the purposes of this clause—

each of the following is a prescribed class of persons:

members of SACFS who voluntarily perform work in connection with that membership;

other persons of a class prescribed by the regulations;

work of a prescribed class is constituted by—

in relation to a member of SACFS under paragraph (a)(i)—

any activity directed towards preventing, controlling or extinguishing a fire, or dealing with any other emergency that requires SACFS to act to protect life, property or the environment; or

attending in response to a call for assistance by SACFS;

attending a SACFS meeting, competition, training exercise or other organised activity; or

any other activity carried out in relation to the functions of

other work of a class prescribed by the regulations.