Cbus recommends abandoning stapling for hazardous occupations

Cbus Super has recommended a review of the stapling provisions under Your Future, Your Super to prevent workers in hazardous occupations from being left uninsured.

The majority of Cbus members worked in the building and construction sectors which was the third-highest sector for workplace fatalities.

The fund had paid $11.8 million to members in their teens and 20s who had been killed or injured at work under the Dangerous Occupation Exemption which provides default cover for members under-25 and with low balances.

Due to the exemption, a total of 184,500 Cbus members had either retained insurance cover or been provided automatic cover, and over $36 million in claims had been paid out to members and their families.

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Justin Arter, Cbus chief executive, said the stapling provision was “doing more harm than good” for these workers, particularly those who were young and unlikely to think about insurance.

“Cbus workplace coordinators are increasingly seeing apprentices and young people on construction sites without any level of insurance cover.

“This is because many young people move into new jobs in construction but are stapled to the fund of their first job that likely won’t include insurance, or if it does is likely to include occupational exclusions. This means despite the real life daily risks workers face in their new construction job, they are not insured for working at heights and with heavy machinery.”

He said workers in these sectors deserved legislation to protected them.

Cbus recommended the stapling measures which saw members stapled to their first fund be abandoned or exclude workers in hazardous occupations. Instead, these occupations should be defaulted into the fund named in their EBA or award.