A growing demand for work health and safety inspectors in Tasmania has resulted in Commonwealth workplace insurer Comcare setting up an office in Launceston from next year.
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The statutory body has been investigating appropriate office spaces and will establish a temporary office in Launceston in January, with a view to setting up a permanent location later in 2020.
Comcare will employ 10 full-time equivalent staff to be based in Launceston - the body's first office in Tasmania.
During Senate Estimates last month, Comcare chief executive officer Sue Weston said there would be no overall increase to Comcare staffing levels and some of these positions would be filled by staff relocating to Tasmania.
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"We are managing currently that within our current ASL (average staffing level) and we expect that we can use natural attrition elsewhere and fill from our existing allocations," she said.
The government included the establishment of Comcare offices in Launceston and Darwin in the 2019-20 budget papers and described the move as part of its "decentralisation agenda".
Ms Weston said Tasmania was the only state without a Comcare office.
"In Darwin there is significant Defence activity in that territory, and certainly we don't have a presence in Darwin at the moment and we do in the other states and territories, other than in Tasmania," she said.
"The location in Launceston will also give us a presence directly in Tasmania."
There was no additional funding provided in the budget, and the relocation would be funded within Comcare's existing budget.
Comcare has started advertising for positions, including data entry jobs.
Comcare administers the Commonwealth requirement for rehabilitation and compensation, serving as an insurer, regulator and manager of the World Health and Safety Act.
It provides employers with an integrated safety, compensation and rehabilitation system.