An independent review has found the financial trajectory of Victoria’s workers’ compensation scheme to be unsustainable as outstanding claims liabilities continue to surge. According to a report by Victorian Auditor-General Andrew Greaves, the value of the outstanding insurance claims liability for WorkSafe almost doubled over the last five years, from $13 billion (US$9.2 billion) in 2016-17 to $24.5 billion (US$17.5billion) in 2020-21. An outstanding claim liability is a claim an insurance entity is responsible for paying in the future. The report also found a significant increase in the number of injured workers accessing weekly payments for longer periods resulting in an increase of previously recognised claims by $2.7 billion (US$1.9 billion) in 2020–21. “This is in addition to $4.9 billion new claims recognised for the first time in 2020–21 ($4.2 billion in 2019–20),” the report reads. Moreover, five problems were identified in the workers’ compensation scheme including softer application of …