What does Comcare actually do?
Comcare is the national work health and safety regulator and workers' compensation authority. Its stated purpose is to promote and enable safe and healthy work, spanning injury prevention, early intervention, injury recovery, return to work and work health and safety regulation. See About Comcare.
Two statutes drive the agency. Comcare is established under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988, the SRC Act, and it holds functions and responsibilities under both that Act and the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, including regulatory functions and compliance and enforcement powers. Its legislated functions shape four core roles, as regulator, claims manager, scheme manager and insurer.
That combination is what makes Comcare unusual. Most Australian jurisdictions separate the safety regulator from the compensation insurer. In the Commonwealth jurisdiction the same agency administers the WHS Act and WHS Regulations 2011, which implement the model work health and safety laws, and also manages compensation claims under the SRC Act. Comcare additionally manages most asbestos-related claims for compensation under the Asbestos-related Claims (Management of Commonwealth Liabilities) Act 2005, and administers the Parliamentary Injury Compensation Scheme covering parliamentarians and the Prime Minister's spouse.
Who does the Comcare scheme cover?
The SRC Act contains the workers' compensation scheme for employees of the Australian Government, of Australian Government authorities and corporations, and of corporations that hold a licence to self-insure under the Act. See About the Comcare scheme.
Comcare characterises the scheme as a no fault scheme with limited access to common law, taking an integrated approach to preventing injury and providing occupational rehabilitation and workers' compensation. Employers are responsible for the occupational rehabilitation and return to work of their employees. Comcare approves workplace rehabilitation providers. The benefit structure covers compensation payments, relevant medical, rehabilitation and related costs, and lump sum payments for permanent impairment.
Self-insurance is a two-step process. The minister must first declare a corporation eligible to be granted a licence to self-insure under the SRC Act. Once declared eligible, the corporation applies to the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission for the licence. Current and former Commonwealth authorities may apply to the Commission after consulting their portfolio minister. Licensees remain inside the Comcare scheme, so most Comcare guidance applies to them, but licence compliance and performance is overseen by the Commission.
Where does AI fit in Comcare's work?
Comcare has published an AI Transparency Statement, and it is unusually direct. Comcare at present does not use AI for any of its core functions or responsibilities. Specifically, AI is not used in compliance, auditing, or decision-making processes without human oversight. AI technologies may assist with various tasks, but any final decisions or actions are made by a human, so that there is always a human responsible for accountability and accuracy in service delivery.
Two further commitments matter to anyone in the scheme. Comcare staff are not permitted to input sensitive information of its employees or customers into AI technologies. And Comcare's current exploration of AI is limited and controlled, aimed at internal analysis, information management and workplace productivity, supported by a risk-based governance framework aligned to Digital Transformation Agency guidance. The agency has committed to Australia's Voluntary AI Safety Standard and the AI Ethics Principles, mandatory staff training and active monitoring of AI usage. The statement was published in February 2025 and reviewed in April 2026, and Comcare's Chief Information Office is the accountable official.
Separately, Comcare's privacy page discloses that it may use artificial intelligence software to transcribe calls, that no automated decisions are made with that information, and that it has procedures in place to monitor the accuracy and quality of the information generated.
The practical read is that the regulator holds itself to human decision-making and a hard rule against sensitive data entering AI tools. Employers and licensees should expect to be asked to demonstrate the same discipline.
What should practitioners do when dealing with Comcare?
De-identify before anything touches a general-purpose AI tool. Claim numbers, names and dates of birth have no business in a prompt. Comcare's own rule for its staff is a clean benchmark to adopt internally, and it is far easier to defend than a case-by-case judgement.
Keep the human decision-maker visible in the file. The scheme's determinations turn on evidence assessed against statutory tests, and a decision record that cannot show who assessed what, and on what material, is weak regardless of whether AI was involved. Use AI to structure, summarise and check, not to determine.
Remember which hat Comcare is wearing. The same agency that manages a claim also regulates safety, so a claim involving psychosocial hazards and a WHS inspection can look at the same underlying work design. Evidence prepared for one is likely to be relevant to the other.
If you are a self-insured licensee, check the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission material as well as Comcare's, because licence compliance and performance obligations sit with the Commission.
Bottom line
Comcare is the Commonwealth jurisdiction's work health and safety regulator and workers' compensation authority in a single agency, established under the SRC Act and holding functions under the WHS Act as well. That combination is what practitioners most often underestimate, because the body managing a claim also regulates the work design behind it, so evidence prepared for one is likely to be relevant to the other. Its own AI position is unusually plain, no AI in its core functions, no AI in compliance, auditing or decision making without human oversight, and no sensitive employee or customer information entering AI tools at all. Employers and self-insured licensees should expect to be asked to demonstrate the same discipline: de-identify before anything reaches a general-purpose tool, and keep the human decision maker and the material they assessed visible on the file.
TheAICommand. Intelligence, At Your Command.*
TheAICommand. Intelligence, At Your Command.