The board of the country's largest workers' compensation scheme lacked "anyone with proper insurance skills or a strong medical background," according to an opinion expressed in a confidential board review earlier this year. Jean Nassif remains in rural Lebanon, while he continues to be sought by a parliamentary inquiry probing development activities in Sydney's north-west. The NSW Government established an independent flood inquiry to examine and report on the causes of, preparedness for, response to and recovery from the 2022 catastrophic flood event. 2, Quadrennial Review of the Audit Office of NSW 2022, Options to improve access to existing and alternate accommodation to address the social housing shortage, Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Infrastructure Contributions) Bill 2021, Integrity of the NSW Biodiversity Offsets Scheme, Granting of contract number OoS17/18-021 by the Office of Sport, Review of the Standing and Sessional Orders, Mobile speed camera enforcement programs in NSW, Further inquiry into the regulation of building standards, Examination of selected Auditor-General's Financial Audit Reports 2020, Coal and Gas Legislation Amendment (Liverpool Plains Prohibition) Bill 2021, Petroleum (Onshore) Amendment (Cancellation of Zombie Petroleum Exploration Licences) Bill 2021, Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment (Clean Air) Bill 2021, Tax Administration Amendment (Combating Wage Theft) Bill 2021, Citizen's Right of Reply - Mr Benjamin Geary, Fourteenth General Meeting with the Valuer General, Support for rural and regional learner drivers, Long term sustainability and future of the timber and forest products industry, Impact of the Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link, Environmental planning instruments (SEPPs), 2021 review of annual and other reports of oversighted bodies, Mutual Recognition (New South Wales) Amendment Bill 2021, Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Amendment (Plastics Reduction) Bill 2021, Health and wellbeing of kangaroos and other macropods in New South Wales, Acquisition of land in relation to major transport projects, 2021 Review of the annual reports and other matters of the Office of the Advocate for Children and Young People and the Office of the Children's Guardian, Review of the Health Care Complaints Commission 2019-20 annual report, Development of a hydrogen industry in New South Wales, Parliamentary Privilege and the use of investigatory and intrusive powers, Local Land Services Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2020, Execution of search warrants by the Australian Federal Police (No. Start by selecting the part of the business you want to contact. 19Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (NSW Branch), No. 1 - Select Committee on the impact of technological and other change on the future of work and workers in New South Wales - The gig economy - First report, Upper House committee releases report on the future of work, calls for more regulation of workplace surveillance, Professor Ariadne Vromen, Professor of Public Administration, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Dr Josh Healy, Senior Lecturer in Employment Relations, The University of Newcastle, Ai Group Submission, tendered by Ms Nicola Street, Mr Anthony Wing, Point to Point Commissioner, From Ms Kitty Lu, Compliance Manager and Public Relations Manager, EASI Group - clarifying her evidence to the committee, 'Blue Harvest' report - tendered by Mr Michael Buckland, McKell Institute, 'Insecure Work and Portable Entitlements' report - tendered by Mr Michael Buckland, McKell Institute, University of Sydney Australian Women's Working Futures, Professor Rae Cooper - Dual-earner parent couples work and care during COVID-19. The revelations led to a shake-up of the icare board, with former NSW Labor leader John Robertson taking the reins at the troubled public insurer. Inquiries - Current Parliament (2015+) Inquiries - All (1999+) Legislative Assembly. LC Minutes, 24 March 2020, Item 52, pp 875-877. Demonstrating the strong focus on psychological claims, icare is also exploring the future appointment of a dedicated psychological claims provider to deliver innovative and targeted psychological claims services. The Inquiry's recommendations that were supported by the Government will continue to be implemented across WorkCover's three successor entities: the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA), SafeWork NSW and icare. Video recordings of hearings where available can be found on the NSW Parliament's YouTube channel here. "Clearly the problems with the system go well beyond any one executive, the entire icare board needs to be held accountable," Mr Shoebridge said. The new digital system was supposed to make claims management more efficient, and save hundreds of millions of dollars. Icare chairman Michael Carapiet will be called to give evidence at a parliamentary inquiry. "The icare board is committed to getting the organisation focused back on what it was set up to do caring for injured workers and road users and supporting NSW businesses, homeowners and the NSW government," he said. 7 - Planning and Environment, Portfolio Committee No. Business NSW gets it. Executives salaries have skyrocketed and injured workers have gone underpaid by up to $80m as the scheme verges on collapse. A portion of these issues can be tied to the decision icare made to move to a new claims model and a single agent, EML, to manage all the new claims. The inquiry held its final hearing at Parliament House in Sydney on Friday to hear from stakeholders first-hand. Sign up to The Sydney Morning Heralds newsletter here, The Ages here, Brisbane Times here, and WAtodays here. The NSW Bar Association has raised the idea that the 15% whole person impairment (WPI) threshold for lump sum compensation should be lowered to 11% WPI, so it would become consistent with the 11% . Witnesses can be subpoenaed to appear before the inquiry if they refuse to attend voluntarily. The committee made available an online . Were working to restore it. "It is clear from the evidence that the performance of the Nominal Insurer has been affected by a fall in return to work rates and an increase in claim costs, including medical expenses," Mr Fang said. Set up by New South Wales treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, in 2015 to replace the old WorkCover scheme after it had racked up $4bn in debt, icare has faced increasing scrutiny after it was found to be mismanaged and on the verge of collapse. Start by selecting the part of the business you want to contact. 19Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, No. Chairman of icare, John Robertson, said he acknowledged the mistakes of the past and found the outcomes of the review "thorough, fair and provided key areas of improvement.". . "Over the last five years under the control of Dominic Perrottet icare has lost more than $4 billion of public value and let down tens of thousands of injured workers and today we see two reports that highlights the extent of the problems in icare," Mr Shoebridge said. NSW Parliament's Law and Justice Committee today tabled its 2020 review of the Workers' Compensation Scheme, following last year's revelations uncovered by a joint ABC and Sydney Morning Herald investigation, showing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses and the underpayment of thousands of injured workers. The upper house committee on Tuesday also asked Mr Carapiet about whether he had signed off on late declarations for 42 gifts received by another former chief executive - Vivek Bhatia - such as lunches and breakfasts. At the centre of Friday's hearing was Mr Bhatia's relationship with global professional services firm Capgemini, which was part of a consortium that won a tender process to build a claims and billing platform for icare. "icare has already taken steps to address many of the matters that are referred to in the report, but there is still a long way to go," he said. 18Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union, Construction and General Division, NSW Divisional Branch, No. That revelation led to the resignation of Nigel Freitas, the Treasurers chief of staff, who blamed the issue on an administrative oversight.The chief executive, John Nagle, also resigned after it was revealed he had failed to properly disclose that icare had awarded a contract to his wife. "icare's executives accepted gifts and benefits from time to time. Peter McCarthy, former government adviser and senior EY partner, told the investigation the executives at icare were some of the best paid in the public sector, with about 45 people receiving an average salary of $300,000. The current return-to-work rate, an industry indicator of how well a workers compensation scheme is working, has declined significantly at icare. STANDING COMMITTEE ON LAW AND JUSTICE Report - February 2023 15 witnesses. NSW parliamentary inquiry to use firm to track down key witnesses, including two of Dominic Perrottet's brothers Committee examining allegations of 'impropriety' against a Sydney council and. Read more: Martin Hoffman told NSW government icare issues needed 'decisive engagement' in 2019, emails show. (SIRA) for workers compensation regulation; Insurance and Care NSW (icare) for workers compensation insurance; and SafeWork NSW for work health and safety regulation. A former chief executive officer of embattled state insurer icare took home more than $1.2 million in his final year in the role, making him the highest paid public servant in NSW history. Those gifts and benefits were either not recorded at all, or were not recorded promptly and appropriately. Mr Carapiet said he could not recall the day that he signed it and that none of the gifts warranted "the amount of time we're spending on it. Share. Were working to restore it. 1University of Sydney - Australian Women's Working Futures Research Project, No. Credit:Peter Braig. Please try again later. 2 - Impact of technological and other change on the future of work and workers in New South Wales: Final report - Workplace surveillance and automation, Report No. Indigenous policy researcher Janet Hunt told the inquiry that the state government's failure to implement this legislation contradicted its Closing the Gap targets. Former icare CEO John Nagle was the focus of an internal review. The Parliament of New South Wales acknowledges and respects the traditional lands of all Aboriginal people, and pays respects to all Elders past and present. The NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Minister for Digital and Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello announced on 4 August 2020 that the scheduled five-year review into workers compensation would be brought forward. Labor MLC and committee member Daniel Mookhey later asked Mr Bhatia about 42 gifts he received in his time at icare, all of which were "entered into a gifts register on the same day, two years after they were received and four months after" Mr Bhatia left icare. Mr Shoebridge, who is on the parliamentary committee, said the inquiry needed to be extended because the issues plaguing the public insurer extended well beyond Mr Nagle. When he exited, Mr Bhatia's fixed remuneration was $820,000, in addition to a $410,000 incentive. This inquiry was self-referred on 23 June 2022 to inquire into and report on the appointment of Mr John Barilaro as Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas andany other related matter. 3 - Education: Legislative Council: Closed: 2022-03-30: 2022-05-26 Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. 15 - Public Accountability Committee - Appointment of Mr John Barilaro as Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas - Interim report, Report no. Insurance Market Update 2016 1H 2 Insurance Market Update 2016 3Insurance Market Update 2016 Heightened competition, buoyed by an abundance 8Workers Compensation Independent Review Office (WIRO), No. Chief executive of icare John Nagle resigned from the agency late on Monday, just hours after appearing before the inquiry where it emerged he had failed to properly declare that his wife had been given a contract with the agency. The NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the Health and Wellbeing of Kangaroo and other Macropods has handed down its report, and things don't look good for our internationally recognised, iconic, marsupial friend. Please enable scripts and reload this page. 14 - Public Accountability Committee - Special report on the unauthorised disclosure of in camera evidence given on 29 June 2022, Parliamentary inquiry into the Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner appointment process tables its final report, Parliamentary inquiry into the appointment of Mr John Barilaro as Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas tables its interim report, Ms Kylie Bell, Managing Director, Trade and Investment, Investment NSW, Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade, Mr Stephen Cartwright, Agent General UK and Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner Europe and Israel, Investment NSW (hearing held on 22 November 2022), Mr Bran Black, Chief of Staff, Office of the Premier (hearing held on 22 November 2022), Tender bundle 002 (K. Bell) tabled by the Hon Daniel Mookhey MLC. This inquiry is no longer receiving submissions. Bills. The sentiments were echoed byicare chief executive Richard Harding, who said the problems of the past were unacceptable and while the overall intention for change was right, the execution did not meet community expectations. inquiry. "Over the past seven months we haven't sat idle, we have acted and embarked on the most significant changes to icare since the scheme was created in 2015.". 11Australian Rehabilitation Providers Association, No. Its spokesperson said that icare is going through a period of change to address some of the issues raised by the investigations. icare's poor "I think there was a need for a change," he said. . Since August Mr Bhatia has been the chief executive of information solutions group Link Group, chaired by former icare chairman Michael Carapiet. the IPC's regulatory engagement with icare following the March 2020 NSW Parliament Budget Estimates Inquiry, during which icare's conduct in relation the contract register . A subsequent statement from Perrottets office rounded down the numbers, saying that they had underpaid between $5m to $10m, and that it has only affected 5,000 to 10,000 workers. Posted 3 Feb 2021 3 Feb 2021 Wed 3 Feb 2021 at 12:55am , updated 10 . Mr McDougall said his review showed proper probity procedures were not followed. The State Insurance and Care Governance Act 2015 (SICG Act) abolished SRWS and created three new entities (icare, SIRA and SafeWork NSW) to replace SRWS', of which WorkCover was an agency, regulatory and insurance functions. Sign up here. The NSW government last year brought forward a statutory review into the scheme, headed by the Hon Robert McDougall QC, with that report also released today. 5 - Regional NSW and Stronger Communities, Committee on the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Legislative Assembly Committee on Transport and Infrastructure, Legislative Assembly Committee on Law and Safety, Select Committee on the conduct of elections in New South Wales, Joint Standing Committee on the Office of the Valuer General, Legislative Assembly Committee on Community Services, Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics, Committee on the Health Care Complaints Commission, Select Committee on the status of water trading in New South Wales, Select Committee on the Response to Major Flooding across New South Wales in 2022, Committee on the Ombudsman, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission and the Crime Commission, Select Committee on Puppy Farming in New South Wales, Select Committee on the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Bill 2021, Legislative Assembly Committee on Investment, Industry and Regional Development, Legislative Assembly Committee on Environment and Planning, Select Committee on Floodplain Harvesting, Select Committee on the coronial jurisdiction in New South Wales, Select Committee on the provisions of the Public Health Amendment (Registered Nurses in Nursing Homes) Bill 2020, Joint Select Committee on Coercive Control, Select Committee on the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission, Joint Select Committee on the Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality) Bill 2020, Select Committee on the High Level of First Nations People in Custody and Oversight and Review of Deaths in Custody, Select Committee on the impact of technological and other change on the future of work and workers in New South Wales, Select Committee on the Government's management of the Powerhouse Museum and other museums and cultural projects in New South Wales, Select Committee on Animal Cruelty Laws in New South Wales, Select Committee on the Proposal to Raise the Warragamba Dam Wall, Select Committee on the Use of Battery Cages for Hens in the Egg Production Industry, Joint Select Committee on Sydney's Night Time Economy. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. icare is also establishing an internal team that will develop and trial new approaches to psychological claims that can then be rolled Save. which icare has paid more than $8 million for services. Please try again later. Reinsurance. "You have already heard that I have denied saying that. 31Rideshare Drivers Association of Australia, No. Business NSW gets it. A parliamentary inquiry in August revealed that almost $4m in salaries and bonuses was paid to icare executives in the 2018-2019 financial year. A combined investigation by the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and ABC TVs Four Corners into the insurer found it had underpaid up to 52,000 injured workers by up to $80m in compensation. Quoting a statement from Mr McCann, Greens MLC David Shoebridge said Mr Bhatia thumped his fist on the table: "You yelled at him, and you said to him, 'you are f--king useless. Our Morning Edition newsletter is a curated guide to the most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Go to page 8. https://lnkd.in/gGT44Gtb "Fixing the NSW workers' compensation scheme is an urgent priority. Those briefings are consistent with the good news approach identified elsewhere in this report. NSW Parliament's Law and Justice Committee today tabled its 2020 review of the Workers' Compensation Scheme, following last year's revelations uncovered by a joint ABC and Sydney Morning Herald investigation, showing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses and the underpayment of thousands of injured workers. '", "I definitely did not say that," Mr Bhatia said. It was announced in March that icare would remediate any underpayments to injured workers.. Australias largest workers compensation scheme, icare, has been surrounded by scandals for months. Please enable scripts and reload this page. 21Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation NSW Branch, No. 43Transport Education, Audit and Compliance Health Organisation Limited (TEACHO) Limited, No. "That is a dreadful look for an organisation that manages many billions of dollars of what is in substance public money," he said. The NSW government also acknowledged the work of the Law and Justice Committee's report. "A cowboy culture took root in icare, and it led to a public disaster which small business and injured workers are paying for. Appointment of Mr John Barilaro as Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas, Parliamentary Secretaries in the Assembly, NSW Legislative Assembly Practice, Procedure and Privilege, Hearing - Preston-Stanley Room, Parliament House, Sydney, Hearing - Jubilee Room, Parliament House, Sydney, Hearing - Room 814-815, Parliament House, Sydney, Hearing - Macquarie Room, Parliament House, Sydney, Hearing - Dixson Room, Macquarie Building, State Library of NSW, Sydney, Report no 16 - Public Accountability Committee - Appointment of Mr John Barilaro as STIC to the Americas - Final Report, Report no. Supporting the Executive team to deliver the Disability reform agenda of the NSW Government culminating in the transition of programs . NSW Greens MP and Chair of the Kangaroo Inquiry Cate Faehrmann. We acknowledge the Gadigal people as the traditional custodians of the land on which the Parliament of New South Wales stands. 1 Treasury - tabled by Hon Daniel Mookhey MLC, Appendix 05 - icare Annual Report - tabled by Hon Daniel Mookhey MLC, Letter from icare to claimant - tabled by Mr David Shoebridge MLC, 21 Point Action Plan Updated from SIRA - tabled by Ms Carmel Donnelly - Chief Executive, Responses to pre-hearing questions - SIRA, Responses to pre-hearing questions - icare, Commencement of 2020 review of the workers compensation scheme. With these new appointments progress has been made to ensure icare is delivering for injured workers and providing them with the support they need and deserve, he said. ", Greens MLC and committee member David Shoebridge.Credit:Kate Geraghty. 49NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association, Government response - Report No. Icare has disputed the underpayment figures, saying its initial estimates have been revised down significantly and it estimates 5000 to 10,000 workers have been underpaid up to $10 million in total.