The outdated Workers Compensation Ordinance 1964 is still in its reviewing process with the National Workers’ Compensation Policy (including Employers’ Liability Insurance) final draft 2019, also calling for the ordinance to be updated.

In a recent article, the opposition leader, Tina Browne argues strongly that it is time to overhaul the largely outdated Cook Islands Workers Compensation Ordinance 1964.

This comes at the back of similar sentiments shared by members of the public after the controversy around Te Aponga Uira’s mishandling of a workplace incident where four staff members were electrocuted.

Workers are not safe under the “outdated” Cook Islands Workers’ Compensation Ordinance 1964, according to the Opposition.

In response to queries from this newspaper,Retired school teacher and principal June Hosking, president of the Te Ipukarea Society,  shared similar sentiments stressing that Cook Islands has moved on from the days where a simple bandage on a bruise was enough.

“My letter (to the editor) was simply a reaction to what was said in the news article of 26 October 26- headed ‘TAU under fire’. I was just so surprised. Perhaps the document has been reviewed, but the date quoted is so old, as to be way out of step with the present,” she said.

She added, “Gone are the days when my hubby Andrew and rugby mates with broken nose, shoulder blade etc, would be given a pain killer, told to just toughen up and sent home.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tingika Elikana and the Minister of Internal Affairs Vaine ‘Mac’ Mokoroa were contacted for comment on  updating of the review, but neither responded.

The Chamber of Commerce in 2017 shared an interest in the operation and implementation of the Worker’s Compensation scheme for many years saying there was no doubt that workers need insurance cover for accidental injury or death.

The Chamber agreed with Internal Affairs at the time that the ordinance needed to be “reviewed to adjust process and rates to reflect more modern times”.

During the TAU debate, Browne demanded greater accountability and transparency from both TAU and the government, adding her voice to the call for an independent investigation into the incident, as well as clear policy changes to prevent similar events in the future.

Meanwhile, the current legal framework for workers’ compensation in the Cook Islands, represented by the Workers Compensation Ordinance 1964 and the Employers Insurance Liability Regulations 1965, fall well short of relevant international standards and are unable to meet the needs of Cook Islands’ workers and employers, according to the 2019 final draft.

It adds that the current framework is deficient in its coverage of workers, in its coverage of injuries and illnesses and in the level and duration of its benefit structure.

“There are currently no arrangements to facilitate the early and sustainable return to work of injured and ill workers and no system of dispute resolution apart from the complex and highly expensive option of resort to the High Court.”

“The existing framework for the collection of employer premiums is archaic in structure and highly inefficient in its operations.”

In short, the present system, which has essentially remained untouched for more than half a century, needs a fundamental overhaul as emphasised in the final draft.