Joe Maric
Icare was set up in 2015 by NSW State Treasurer Perrottet to administer the NSW workers compensation scheme. It was touted then by the NSW Liberal/National Party Government, that it would bring better outcomes for injured workers and employers, and it would also be focused on rehabilitation of injured workers returning to work quickly and result in cuts to employers’ worker’s compensation premiums.
However it turns out this was nothing more than spin and PR. Injured workers have argued for years that early intervention with treatments was not happening, resulting in injuries getting worse, and which take a very long time to repair or in many cases are beyond repair. Employers have also recognised that this is a huge problem with their employees being rehabilitated in a timely fashion, and also with driving up the cost of premiums.
THE ANTI WORKER NSW WORKERS COMPENSATION SCHEME
The NSW workers compensation scheme is the worst in Australia, the problem is the whole design. A system that stops weekly benefits after 260 weeks, a system that is designed to keep impairment assessments below 21% to continue with weekly payments and continuation of medical expenses. For an injured worker to get a 21% wpi assessment it can only happen if the worker has had surgical procedures, and that is the core issue why Insurers are denying approval for surgery.
The insurers use independent medical assessors (IME), and insurers shop around until they find an IME that gives the required reports. That IME is rewarded with substantial amounts of work, not to mention anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 payment for each report, sometimes assessing 10/12 patients a day. So doctor shopping, rehab providers and denial of treatment are all tools used by the insurers.
ICARE CORRUPT
But the insult to injured workers is the corrupt behaviour that is now coming out of Icare. Board members are hand picked by the Treasurer Perrottet and are Liberal/National Party known donors.
A CEO that gave millions of dollars in contracts with no public accountability, some 171 contracts given out without a tender process, to companies who are not even on the public register as required by law.
An $11 million contract handed to the CEO’s wife, multiple millions given to a NZ company to a board member’s son and the family has shares in the NZ company. Board members and the Executive of Icare are some of the highest paid public servants in Australia.
These people have run Icare as nothing more than their own personal cashcow. Meanwhile at least 52,000 injured workers have been not paid their entitlements, not to mention countless injured workers who are suffering with pain because they are unable to access treatment.
Unfortunately our NSW ICAC, regulators are complicit by doing absolutely nothing. The NSW Government, with all that is known in what is going on with Icare, are still standing behind the board and the executive of Icare.
The stench of corruption starts at the top with Treasurer Perrottet, other government ministers, the Icare board and executive, insurers, IME doctors and rehab providers. It is a multi- billion dollar industry that looks after everyone in the system except injured workers which is supposedly what the scheme was set up for.
THE INJURED WORKERS SUPPORT NETWORK
So who cares about injured workers, certainly not Icare or the NSW Government. The Injured Workers Support Network have been vocal about these issues since it was formed in 2011. The workers compensation scheme was not good after the Carr Labor Government legislative reform. It was difficult to comprehend but it has been getting a lot worse since 2012 with the NSW Liberal/National Party State Government legislative changes.
I have been a facilitator for injured workers in Orange NSW since 2013, and a board member of the Injured Workers Support Network (IWSN) board of directors. We will continue to advocate for injured workers because we don’t walk alone.
