A Global Crisis. An Australian Origin.
An evidence-informed documentary examining how a system designed to protect people became a source of harm — for families, workers, and the organisations that rely on it.
Hundreds of thousands of Australians are seriously injured or fall ill due to work each year, yet the harm experienced by people navigating the workers’ compensation system rarely receives the attention it deserves. As Australia approaches 100 years since the system was introduced, Shattered asks a harder question: what has a century of protection truly delivered? Developed through a multi-year investigation, the documentary reveals how system design choices — including algorithmic decision-making — transformed care into calculation, quietly scaling harm across workers, families, and the organisations that rely on it.
Grounded in social history, expert analysis, and public record.
Investigation conducted 2023–2025. Filming concluded in late 2025.
Watch Shattered With Your Community
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Reflect
On your how you can end the stigma and your place in changing the narrative
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Respond
By speaking out about the harm done to the injured and their families, and changing the narrative
Take Your Tribe
Episode 1 - Origins of Control
Workers’ compensation began as a promise: if you were hurt at work, you would be protected.That changed in the 1980s, when a program called Colossus turned judgment into calculation — replacing care with cost. Ever since, government have defended the system's business model by claiming it “keeps premiums low for small business,” while the real price is pushed onto injured families and the public.
Like Robodebt. Like the Post Office scandal. The harm was hidden behind “efficiency” while real lives were broken. People have died by suicide inside this system — even the regulator admits the true number is under-reported.
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Environmental Analysis
Examine wider community and identify audiences and assumptions playing into existing narrative. Fact Check. Is it true?
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Strategic Storytelling
Facts tell, stories sell. As necessary correct the backstory with facts, evidence and stories.
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Show New Story
People are wired for stories. Use memes, images, metaphors and channels of communication that resonate with audience. Keep it human and authentic.
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Journey With New Story
It takes time to change a dysfunctional story. Stay the course. Measure and adjust. Build collaborative partnerships of care to embed new story.
Our Framework
We are currently fact checking a number of ambiguous and inconsistent issues that we have identified across other platforms to clarify. Accordingly, this website will be updated on a regular basis so please check back. If you have information that you would like us to consider, please use the contact page and we will be in touch. We appreciate your time.
Evidence-Informed. Non-Partisan.
Shattered is an independent documentary grounded in social history, parliamentary material, and regulatory records.
It is not aligned with any political party or institution.
Its purpose is clarity — and accountability.
#shattereddoco
Episode 1 - 100 Years On
The Algorithm That Scaled the Harm
From Lithgow’s blast furnaces and the coal towns that built a nation, to today’s workplaces defined by burnout, precarity, and automation — the arc of harm has only evolved.
Now, psychosocial injury and algorithmic triage decide who heals and who is left behind.
And if you’re injured at work, you’ll learn what thousands already have: the “safety net” is not a pathway to recovery, but a system that drags you through disbelief, delay, surveillance, and financial ruin — all in the name of “protection.”
The scandal isn’t that it’s broken.
The scandal is that we have allowed it to stay this way.
A system that breaks the injured is not a system worth defending.
Engage With Shattered
Invite Us To Speak
Hear directly from the filmmakers and experts behind the investigation.
Host A Screening
Bring Shattered to your organisation or community.
Partner for Impact
Support independent, evidence-based storytelling that informs reform.
Inform Policy and Reform
Brief leaders, regulators, and institutions.
Become A Partner
Collaborate with us to expand education to more communities.
Spread the Word
Share our posts and talk about the film.
Training
Build moral courage and systems awareness in your organisation.
Events
Throw your support behind a national day of Healing.