Canberra Workers Compensation: Which Scheme Am I Under?
One question sorts it: who do you work for? Tell us at the first call and we handle the rest.
Claim rules in Canberra follow who employs you and where you usually work, never your injury, and never your home address. You don't have to work any of it out yourself, but if you'd like the answer before you call, here it is in under a minute, along with what our doctors, psychologists and physiotherapists can do for you once you know, in person in Canberra or by telehealth.
The short answer
- ✓Australian Government employee (department, agency, statutory authority): your claim runs through Comcare workers compensation under federal law.
- ✓ACT Government (ACTPS) employee: the same federal Act, self-insured, with ACT Government claims managed by EML.
- ✓ACT private-sector employee: the ACT workers compensation scheme under the Workers Compensation Act 1951, decided by a licensed insurer.
- ✓National self-insured licensee employee (Telstra, Australia Post, ANZ and others): federal SRC Act rules, claims run by the employer's own claims manager.
Who Do You Work For?
Tell us the answer and we do the rest. If you'd rather see it yourself, find your employer below. That line is your answer, along with the paperwork, timeframes and decision-maker that come with it.
You work for the Australian Government: a department, agency or statutory authority
You are under Comcare, the federal scheme created by the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988. Comcare's claims managers decide your claim, and your certificate of capacity must come from a GP or a specialist such as a psychiatrist, not a physiotherapist and not a psychologist. Psychological injuries are decided under the Act's disease provisions, and they make up roughly a third of Australian Government claims on Comcare's scheme dashboard, financial year to date at 30 September 2025.
Start with our guide to Comcare workers compensation claims. If your claim is psychological, our Comcare psychologists work alongside our doctors on the same file. Comcare pays telehealth psychology and telehealth physiotherapy at the same amounts as the equivalent in-person items, so choosing telehealth is about convenience, not cost.
You work for the ACT Government (ACTPS): schools, health, territory services
This is the branch most people get wrong. ACT Government employees are not in the ACT private-sector scheme. The ACT Government self-insures under the same federal SRC Act as the Commonwealth, and its claims are managed by EML. The certificate rules, decision timeframes and dispute pathway are the federal ones. Guidance written for WorkSafe ACT's scheme does not apply to your claim.
Our guide to ACT Government workers compensation claims through EML covers the pathway step by step.
You work for a national company that runs its own claims: Telstra, Australia Post, ANZ, Linfox, Ramsay Health Care and about 35 others
Around 40 employers hold federal self-insurance licences, so their employees are covered by the SRC ActAustralia-wide, the same rulebook as Comcare, with the employer's own claims manager making the decisions. Your paperwork goes to that claims team, not to Comcare itself and not to an ACT insurer, but the certificate rules and dispute rights mirror the Comcare scheme.
One trap worth naming: a separate, shorter list of employers — Coles Group, Wesfarmers, Westpac, UNSW, Brickworks, Holcim and Pacific Formwork — self-insure inside the ACT schemeinstead. Their workers stay under the Workers Compensation Act 1951 with all its usual rules; the employer simply stands in the insurer's shoes.
You work for any other private employer in Canberra or the ACT
You are in the ACT workers compensation scheme under the Workers Compensation Act 1951, and it has some of the strongest early-payment rules in the country. Your employer must notify its insurer within 48 hours of learning of the injury, and weekly payments must start when you give notice of the injury, before any liability decision. The insurer then has 28 days to decide, and silence counts as acceptance. Journey claims — injured travelling between home and work — are still covered, unlike NSW.
Claims are decided by one of five licensed insurers: Allianz, Guild Insurance, QBE, CGU or GIO. WorkSafe ACT regulates the scheme but makes no claim decisions. Any AHPRA-registered doctor can write your certificate, and the Act lets you nominate a medical practice as your treating doctor, which is exactly how our doctors work. Treatment by a psychologist and treatment by a physiotherapist are each listed as compensable in their own right under the Act, so our psychologists and physiotherapists can treat you under the same claim.
You serve, or served, in the Australian Defence Force
Military compensation sits outside both schemes on this page. Claims for ADF service run through the Department of Veterans' Affairs under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act, a separate system with its own rules, its own claims process and its own specialist advocates. It is not something our clinic handles, and you deserve people who work in that system every day. One exception worth knowing: Defence civilians— APS employees of the Department of Defence — are Comcare, like the rest of the public service.
You live in NSW and work in Canberra, or the other way around
Where you live never decides the scheme. The ACT and NSW use mirror-image tests that ask, in order: where do you usually work; if that has no single answer, where are you usually based; and failing that, where is your employer's principal place of business. So a Queanbeyan resident who usually works in Canberra for a private employer has an ACT claim, paid by an ACT-licensed insurer, while a Canberra resident who usually works in Queanbeyan has a NSW claim. And Commonwealth employment overrides all of it: an Australian Government employee is a Comcare claimant wherever they live or work.
On the NSW side of the border, our guide to workers compensation in Queanbeyan covers the local pathway, and our complete NSW workers compensation guide explains the NSW rules in full.
What Actually Changes With Your Employer: At a Glance
None of this is homework. It's here so you can see why the first question matters, and what really changes depending on who employs you.
| ACT private sector | Australian Government (APS) | ACT Government (ACTPS) | National self-insured licensees | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governing law | Workers Compensation Act 1951 (ACT) | SRC Act 1988 (Commonwealth) | SRC Act 1988 (Commonwealth) | SRC Act 1988 (Commonwealth) |
| Who decides the claim | One of five licensed insurers (Allianz, Guild, QBE, CGU, GIO) or a licensed self-insurer. WorkSafe ACT regulates but decides nothing. | Comcare's claims managers | EML, under the ACT Government's self-insurance licence | The employer's own claims manager |
| Certificate rules | Any AHPRA-registered doctor; a medical practice can be the nominated treating doctor | GP or specialist (e.g. psychiatrist) only. A psychologist cannot certify incapacity | Same federal rule: GP or specialist only | Same federal rule: GP or specialist only |
| Where disputes go | No tribunal. Asking the insurer to reconsider carries no statutory clock; conciliation runs only if both sides agree and never for a rejected claim; rejections go to arbitration in the ACT Magistrates Court, then appeal to the Supreme Court | Internal reconsideration, then the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) | Reconsideration, then the ART | Reconsideration, then the ART |
Scheme details verified against the legislation and regulator guidance current at August 2026. Rules change, so treat this as orientation, and let our doctors match the paperwork to your claim.
What Our Clinicians Can Do for You in Canberra
Whoever you work for, the full service range is available — in person in Canberra, and by telehealth where the scheme funds it. What changes is the paperwork, not what we can treat.
- ✓Our doctors handle the certificate of capacity and every ongoing certificate your scheme requires, the claim paperwork, and the referrals that unlock treatment. Certificate appointments are in person in Canberra. For ordinary GP care on a work injury, see our Canberra GP page.
- ✓Our psychologists provide psychological injury treatment. Comcare funds five initial sessions before a Psychology Treatment Plan; the ACT private scheme lists psychologist treatment as compensable in its own right. In person or by telehealth.
- ✓Our physiotherapists provide physical injury treatment. Comcare needs no referral to start physiotherapy and funds five initial sessions before a treatment plan; under the ACT private scheme your insurer approves physiotherapy as compensable treatment. In person or by telehealth.
- ✓Specialist and surgical opinions cover orthopaedic and specialist consultations, second opinions, imaging review, insurer reporting and post-operative rehabilitation. Where any operation happens is decided with you and turns on your insurer's approval.
- ✓The claims side covers lodgement, certificates kept current, treatment approvals chased and correspondence with Comcare, EML or your insurer. It is the part of a claim people most often end up carrying themselves, and it sits here instead.
Injured in a motor accident rather than at a workplace? That is a third scheme again: the ACT Motor Accident Injuries Scheme, with a 13-week application deadline and a medical report only a registered medical practitioner can complete. If you were driving for work, say so at the first appointment: in the ACT those two schemes run one after the other, not side by side, and a decision in one can close the other.
Two things we do not do, said plainly. Vocational rehabilitation is a separately regulated role that only an approved workplace rehabilitation provider may deliver: appointed by the insurer under the ACT private scheme, engaged by the employer under the federal Act. And we are a medical clinic, not a law firm: we do the medical side of a claim, and we do not give legal advice.
Call (02) 7238 7379 and we will arrange the appointment that fits the scheme you are in.
Why the First Question Matters
Every one of these schemes accepts a claim the same way, with the right certificate from the right practitioner. We get that right for you from the first appointment, because that is where a claim is won or quietly lost.
The certificate follows the scheme
A Comcare or EML claim needs a certificate from a GP or psychiatrist. An ACT-scheme claim takes any AHPRA doctor. Start in the wrong lane and the claim stalls before it exists.
The clock follows the scheme
28 days with deemed acceptance in the ACT scheme; 20 or 60 calendar days under the federal Act, with no deemed decision. Knowing which clock is running tells you what silence means — and when to chase.
One clinic, whoever pays
Our doctors write the certificates at in-person appointments in Canberra, our psychologists and physiotherapists treat you under the same claim in person or by telehealth, and the paperwork is matched to the payer from the first appointment.
Which-Scheme Questions, Answered
Canberra and Comcare Guides
Once you know your scheme, go straight to the guide written for it.
Not Sure Which Scheme You're Under?
Tell us who you work for. That usually settles it, and we handle the rest. Our doctors, psychologists and physiotherapists see Canberra patients in person and by telehealth, and we match the paperwork to your scheme before anything is lodged.
Call (02) 7238 7379