This page is an educational summary for professionals working with AI. It is not the law and not legal advice. Always work from the current authoritative text linked below.
What does section 14 do?
Section 14, headed "Compensation for injuries", opens Part II as the scheme's liability provision. Under subsection 14(1), subject to that Part, Comcare is liable to pay compensation for an injury suffered by an employee if the injury results in death, incapacity for work, or impairment. Subsection 14(2) excludes intentionally self-inflicted injuries. Subsection 14(3) excludes an injury caused by the serious and wilful misconduct of the employee, unless the injury results in death, or serious and permanent impairment. Read the current compilation on the Federal Register of Legislation.
Who does it bind?
Subsection 14(1) names Comcare. Where a licence under Part VIII authorises a self-insured licensee to accept liability, section 108A makes the licensee, not Comcare, liable for its employees' injuries.
What do practitioners get wrong?
Treating section 14 as if it contained the reasonable administrative action test. It does not. Section 14 asks whether an injury resulted in death, incapacity for work, or impairment, and whether an exclusion applies. Whether there is an injury at all, including the reasonable administrative action carve-out, is decided under section 5A; section 5B defines disease.
Where does AI use touch it?
Liability drafting is the highest-stakes AI use in the scheme; determination language must stay deterministic. See the SRC Act and AI-assisted determinations and AI tools in claims for the human-review gates that keep section 14 reasoning auditable.
Bottom line
Section 14 makes the scheme pay: an injury, plus death, incapacity for work or impairment, minus the two exclusions. The definition battles are fought in sections 5A and 5B; section 14 is where liability lands.
TheAICommand. Intelligence, At Your Command.