Latest / The Front / Why insurers are walking away from footy

Transcript

Why insurers are walking away from footy · The Front

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, August twenty five, twenty twenty six. There's another
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: tax hiding in the Labor Government's capital gains shake up,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and it could hit billions of dollars in superannuation. One
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of the nation's biggest super funds says it's a higher
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: tax on retirement. That exclusive by Matt Cranston is live
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: right now at The Australian dot com dot au. Concussion
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: is possibly the greatest threat to the football codes Australians love.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Some insurers say head trauma has such potentially devastating lifelong
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: consequences they won't insure against it. So where does that
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: leave the players who put their bodies and brains on
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the line? Racial already been instrumental. Back to Bracial he
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: can whim out? Can he finish with the goal?
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Angus bra Shaw?
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: He can?
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Angus Brashaw. He was an incredibly talented young footballer. He
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: played a critical role in breaking the demons the Melbourne
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Football Club's fifty seven year premiership drought only a few
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: years ago.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Jared Lynch's The Australian's Tech editor and today we're talking
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: to him about something a bit different, how the Australian
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Football League has got itself into an insurance nightmare.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, he was forced to retire when he was only
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: twenty eight years old because he suffered repeated head knocks
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: and concussion, really serious injuries, and based on advice, he
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: had to make that tough decision to call the end
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: of his career when arguably he was at his prime.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Football is all consuming, no matter how long your career was.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: The transition is difficult and there seems no easy way
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: around it. There was a sickening hit on him in
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three elimination final against Collenwood. Hard crim
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: to stop, isn't it.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: He can't.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: It's a real time of course, like most on field things,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: nobody intended any harm, but he was tackled by Bradon
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Maynard and lead us suffered eight brain bleeds. It's a
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: sickening thought, isn't it.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Oh definitely when nebe hear about a bleed on the brain,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I mean that's incredibly serious. But more troubling is we
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: don't know what the long term effects off head knocks, concussion,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: brain bleeds are. I was talking to a director at
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: an AFL club last week and they likened it to
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: the James Hardy asbestos crisis, because with asbestos, you could
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: have two co workers working side by side. Decades later
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: one might pop cancer in their lungs and one might not,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: and that there's no rhyme or reason why one person
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: might be in the clear and another person might be
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: in an early grave. Similar with concussion, like decades later,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: you don't know if it will develop into a brain
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: condition known as CT which can lead to dementia, or
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: you can continue to live into a ripe old age.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: We just don't know, and that is just a risk
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: that increasingly a lot of young AFL players are put
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: in their own health and safety ahead of their desire
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: to play the game. And Angus Brayshaw was one of them.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: The twenty eight year old exits with five years left
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: on his contract, a payout that's yet to be negotiated.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: All the contact football codes have become so much faster
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: and more athletic and really more violent over the years.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: What is the insurance situation for players you get injured?
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Well, for many players, they access insurance as part of
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: the default super arrangements and the default super is done
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: through the AFL Players Association AMP is the fund that
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: provides that superannuation and Zurich, the Swiss space behemoth, is
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: the underwriter for that insurance. Now, earlier this year, Zurich,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: for the reasons you just identified, said okay, because of
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: the risk and because of the lack of clarity between
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: the link of concussion head injuries and these serious permanent
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: brain damage related injuries, we can't price that risk. So
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: we're putting our hands up and we're walking away from it.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: And that caused a huge public backlash. Melbourne Football Club
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: ended there sponsorship with Zurich, which is effective at the
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: end of this season. Angus Brayshaw was denied a seven
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: figure payout because of his early retirement. So it's very very,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: very very murky at the moment. As it stands, if
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: you're a player with that default superannuation, there are more
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: than five hundred out there playing on the fields or
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: training that aren't covered, and that's just unbelievable in this
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: day and age. Last week we broke news at host
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Plus the hospitality industry related superfund has no exclusions when
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: it comes to head trauma. Now, when I spoke to
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: the CEO of that fund, David Elier. They sponsor Freemantle Dockers.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: They sponsor Richmond Tigers, among other AFL clubs and sporting clubs.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: He said there was no exclusions for head trauma, but
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: he stressed that you still have to meet the criteria
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: for a total permanent disability, and that's where some AFL
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: players have had their claims reject it because saying, well, yes,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: you've had concussion, you've been forced to retire, but you
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: seem to function day to day fine, so we're not
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: going to pay you out. When I spoke to David
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Elier about this, he said, yes, you've still got to
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: meet that criteria, but it has to match your skill set.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: So I might have to for whatever reason. I might
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: be forced to retire because I suffered a brain injury
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: and can't talk to you. Clear, I can't write articles,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: but in David's words, I might still be able to
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: lick stamps and I can get a job doing that. Well,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: that wouldn't fit the bill with the way HOSTS plus
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: currently defines a TPD a total permanent disability.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Advocates for people with head trauma say one of the
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: problems is that the code is making too much money
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: out of this very exciting, very energetic sport to really
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: act to limit head trauma, To make the changes that
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: would slow the game down, for example, would take people
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: off the field if they are hurt. One of the
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: things that could change that is an inability to get insurance.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: But if an insurer steps up and says no, we
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: will cover this, that changes the dynamic, doesn't It does
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: that act as a disincentive for the AFL to change the.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: Rules definitely, And that is exactly the same thing position
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: the Geelong Cats found themselves in when they created this
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: waiver for Joke College. Asny now, Jake, he went to
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: the concussion tribunal and he didn't receive a red rating,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: he didn't receive a green rating. He received an Amber rating.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: Now what does that mean. It means that the concussion
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: tribunal thought, well, you've had enough injuries that we're not
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: going to say you can definitely play, but we don't
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: want to say you can't play, so we'll just call
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: it an amber. It was an inconclusive rating, and so
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: when Jake went back to the Cats with this, the
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Cats couldn't access insurance. So the Cats under then president
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: who's now the AFL Commission Chair, Craig Drummond, came up
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: with this wonderful idea for him to sign a waiver
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: so he could continue his football career. The problem with
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Geelong is that they created this waiver in secret, it
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: didn't get AFL sign off, and it was done without
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: the AFL Players Association's knowledge. So you've got to ask
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: yourself why Geelong put themselves in that situation When if
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: push came to shove years down the track and Jake said, well,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: actually I do want a bit of money for my injuries,
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: that it would never be legally enforceable, and that just
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: shows you the mess that the AFL has got themselves
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: into at the moment. And I've spoken with former club
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: officials who have dealt with this very situation where you've
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: had a player who so desperately wants to continue to play,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: but the health advice has said otherwise. And what those
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: officials have told me is that when they've approached that situation,
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: they've taken the finances off the table, and that's what
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: they're arguing should be incorporated into player contracts. There should
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: be a fund that should be paid to that player
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: to tempt them to retire, and that fund be I
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: don't know, based on what they're telling me, is based
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: on a multiple of say three times what their current
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: contracted earnings are. So that's like getting another three years
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: pay to retire. And they're saying so exactly the reasons
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: you identifying, that's what needs to happen, because that financial
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: it's just like it's just like, I don't know, moths
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: to a flame, like, yeah, we need to set ourselves
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: up for life, we need to play I love playing football.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Just take that away and that's what needs to be done.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: What those officials say.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Coming up, who's responsible for looking after footy players. There's
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: an interesting situation in rugby league at the moment where
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: the South Sydney Rabbit o star Gy Arrow, who was
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: on a multimillion dollar multi year contract, very talented player. Again,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: he's now thirty years old and has been forced into
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: medical retirement because he's been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Now there's not a proven connection between head trauma and
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: motor neurone disease, but you would imagine it wouldn't help,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: and certainly doctors say that one of the risks of
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: head trauma is that we don't know exactly how it's
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: going to affect our brains. But there are big fundraising
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: rounds going on where fans are being asked to donate
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: to Jay Arrow and his family. Now a lot of
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Rugby League fans don't themselves have a lot of money.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: It does seem to me as though this is something
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: that this multi billion dollar franchise should be looking after.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Where does the ethical responsibility life for the welfare of
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: these players?
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: So I've been thinking a lot about this, Claire, and
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: you'd like to think in the past two thousand years,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: we're significantly evolved from when we used to chuck gladiators
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: into a ring and watch them fight to the death.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, you got the AFL who says, okay, we're
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: a not for profit. On the other side of the coin,
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: you've got people who are saying that AFL players know
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: that this is a contact sport. They know as soon
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: as they go out into the field every week, they
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: know what they're getting into. So why should would they
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: be able to claim compensation?
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but you could say that about Uber drivers, you know,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: or the guys on the back of the Uber eats bikes.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Will they know that it's a risky occupation to be
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: riding a scooter on a wet road on a Friday night,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: you know, under pressure to deliver the meal on time.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: The obligation, though, has got to be on the employer,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: doesn't it to create conditions where the employee is safe.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Absolutely? I mean, if you had okay, let's pick an employer,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: if you had BHP say okay, we're going to pay
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: you a lot, a lot of money to mine on
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: this site. It's very dangerous work. But don't worry. You're
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: getting paid bucket loads. You know what you're going into.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: And if that employee was killed or seriously injured, I
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: don't think you'd see BHP say nothing to do with us. Actually,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: our customers every day is strange. Use our copper in
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: your wire and off your house. Actually you contribute to
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: their injury, so they're actually okay. So why on earth
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: is that good enough for the NRL or AFL. I
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: mean it seems that they are almost treated as these
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: sacred cows for one of a better word, where there's
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: this mythical where they get special treatment and according to
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: the letter of the law. I don't think that's very.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Fair, Jared Lynch, thank you very much, Thanks Claire. Jared
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Lynch is The Australian's technology edit up. You can check
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: out Jared's work anytime at the Australian dot com dot
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: au