Conference Preparation

Conciliation Preparation

You will have approximately 5-6 weeks from the time you lodge the Request for Conciliation form with the Workplace Injury Commission (WIC) until your conciliation conference is held. It is important that you spend time considering the outcome(s) you want from the conciliation and preparing for your conciliation conference.

You may also wish to make some notes beforehand about what you want to discuss to prompt you during the conference and in discussions with your Workers' Consultant.

Benefits of good preparation


Good preparation ensures that:

  • you have up-to-date information in support of your position

  • you will be able to make everyone involved aware of the issues relevant to your dispute

  • you will be able to actively participate in the conciliation conference

  • the WIC will be in the best position to assist you in resolving your dispute

  • your conciliation conference will not be delayed to obtain supporting information

In some cases, obtaining the relevant information in a timely manner may assist you to resolve your dispute before conciliation.

What sort of information should I obtain?

The supporting information you should obtain will vary depending on:

  • the nature of your WorkCover dispute;

  • the nature of the information held by WorkSafe Victoria or self-insurer and whether or not this information is up to date.

Obtaining medical information

In some circumstances, your WorkCover dispute will centre upon medical issues. For example:

  • the nature of your injury or condition

  • whether your injury or condition is related to your work

  • whether the proposed medical treatment for your injury or condition is reasonable

  • whether you have a capacity to work in view of your injury or condition

For these disputes, conciliation of your WorkCover dispute will be helped by a current medical report from your treating doctor(s) that supports your position.

Click here for more information about obtaining medical information

Obtaining Medical Information
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Obtaining non-medical information

In some circumstances, your WorkCover dispute will relate to non-medical issues. For these disputes, it is important that you:

  1. identify the information you require to support your position

  2. obtain that information before the conference and provide it to the WIC.

If you are unsure whether the WorkCover agent or self-insurer already has this non-medical information, you should contact them.

As an example, your WorkCover dispute may be about the calculation of your pre-injury average weekly earnings. In this situation, you may need to obtain relevant pay slips, bank records or other similar documents.

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