Sorry this in the wrong forum, I meant to put it in the general discussion forum.

cheers

Dale

It looks like you can't have this insurance as a sole trader.

http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/smallbusiness/planning/8124826/workers-compensation-issues

http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/insurancepremiums/Policies/doyouneedinsurance/Pages/Soletraderpartnership.aspx

Can you not just get private health and sickness/income insurance? Be careful of employers getting you to register for ABN's when you are in reality an employee.

 I've got insurance for personal stuff which covers death, disability and trauma as well as income protection, but that's not good enough they are saying.

If they care so much, they should keep you on board as an employee, so you are covered by their policy. Isn’t it the whole point to have you as a contractor, so they don’t have to care about these things for you? If you really need the workers comp., then you will have to become Pty. Ltd. Which cost about $500+. But then when you work as a contractor and being paid by an hour, you have pretty good chance, that your income will be assessed as a (your) personal income – the money belongs to you, not to your company, which sort of defeats the purpose to have the company in the first place and the tax side of things can get pretty messy. It might not matter to you. Depends what you are doing. My advice as from somebody, who started a new business about a year ago, don’t do it.  Find somewhere where you can be happily employed and let somebody else to worry about all the paperwork, tax, insurance, etc.

 i woulda thought ud only need public liability on a abn which is cheap as,,,and thats generally only to work on bigger sites,,,, this is just a lil ploy so they can use u as a employee,,but piss u off as a contractor as they c fit!!!

 Call GIO. They're a Victorian company, but they provided me the insurance you mention while I was subbying in Perth. I know they're not a local company, but they will sort you out over the phone. 

I believe that if you earn more than (I think) 70% of your income from one source you are considered to be an employee for workers comp purposes.?

 ring EBM insurance brokers in perth,they will sort it

 It is a highly complex legal subject, whether you are a "contractor" depends upon several key elements of which the primary one is control / supervision but there are several more.  Many firms seek to dupe employees (and make no mistake that is what they are) into accepting a re-arrangement to supposeldy become contractors when in legal reality nothing has changed

The advice to contact a good insurance broker is a very sound one - workers comp is only part of the issue, liability is equally if not more important for any small business and if on someone elses work site the issue of "worker to worker" claims can send you broke - no read bankrupyt - in the blink of an eye - I have been in the insurance game 43 years and it remains an ever evolving and legally highly complex area

PM me with specific questions if I can help further but really see an CQIB (certified and qualified practicing insurance broker) and follow their advcie to the letter - if anything goes wrong you can fall back on thier PI insurance  

Sunshine 

As Sunshine has said find a qualified person who has expertise in handling these matters. An accountant/ financial advsior/broker will be able to help you.

I operated as a sub-contractor/partnership (50/50) till my accountant said i could no longer work for just one employer/client who determined my hours and pay rate. Once I branched out to multipule clients I was required to have public liability insurance on top off my income protection insurance and once I started employing worker(s) I needed workers compensation to cover them.

So as a sole trader you don't need/can't get workers compensation for yourself, If your working on another persons site (not private) they will need to have liability insurance to cover every person that enters the site. You can get income protection insurance aa sole trader as well s public liability insurance (even a private householder can get this cover).

I'd be very wary of the employers motives, ask for a written explaination as in to why so you can use this info when speaking to a professional.

Good Luck. I did enjoy working for myself and not stuck with one employer/client. As said before can get rid of you at a drop of a hat.