Where Are the Food Hampers for the Injured?

The Conflict of Interest Nobody Wants to Talk About

When political systems fail, the pain is rarely theoretical. It shows up in empty fridges, overdue bills, and the quiet despair of families trying to survive a system that has stopped caring. And this week in NSW, we watched another round of that same theatre — complete with dire warnings for charities, small businesses, and families.

But something was missing from the breathless commentary. Something big. Something obvious. Something deeply uncomfortable.

Where is the care for the injured workers?

At this time of the year when we all begin to think about also caring for the vulnerable members of our community, where are their food hampers? Where are their crisis teams during the “big disaster season”? Where is the sector-wide compassion for the very people the system has documented — repeatedly — as being pushed into poverty, homelessness, breakdown and, in too many cases, suicide?

And here comes the uncomfortable part.

The Same Person Chairs icare and the Social Services Peak Body

John Robertson is the Chair of icare. John Robertson is also the Chair of the NSW Council of Social Service (NCOSS).

One system responsible for denying, delaying, and disputing claims. Another responsible for advocating for the vulnerable.

If the McKell Institute’s “It’s Broken” report lays out — in black and white — the dire circumstances, financial hardship, psychological harm, and systemic abuse experienced by injured workers, then an obvious question follows:

Why isn’t the social services sector fighting just as loudly for them as they are for charities?

When premiums rise, NCOSS issues a warning that charities may have to cut services?. When natural disasters hit, NCOSS activates its networks. When the cost-of-living crush deepens, NCOSS briefs the media. We want to be very clear, this is not an attack on NCOSS. However the optics with this argument put forward by the Treasurer does not make sense, when the injured are one of the state's most vulnerable communities at this time of the year. And te system doesn't even have a help line for support?

Silence.

A Conflict of Interest Hiding in Plain Sight

This is not personal. This is structural. And it’s structural in a way that would be unacceptable in almost any other public-interest domain.

Imagine the Chair of a bank also chairing a homelessness organisation. Imagine the Chair of a mining company also chairing an environmental watchdog. Imagine the Chair of a gambling corporation also chairing an anti-addiction charity.

We would call those conflicts of interest. Yet in NSW, we treat it as normal.

But the consequences are not normal.

Because what we now see is a social services sector publicly grieving for its own survival — charities may “go under,” services may collapse, Christmas support may evaporate — while the very system harming injured workers sits at the same board table.

We cannot pretend this dual-role arrangement does not shape the public narrative about the real victims of this failed system.

The Real Crisis: Injured Workers Are Already Living the Disaster Season

Premiums may rise. Charities may tighten belts. But injured workers have been living in disaster mode for years.

The McKell Institute made that clear. Parliamentary inquiries made that clear. Survivor stories make that clear.

Injured workers lose:

• income

• housing

• marriages

• mental health

• identity

• community

• hope

And still, nobody turns up with a food hamper. Nobody turns up with disaster relief funds. Nobody opens a pop-up recovery hub. Nobody warns the public: “Prepare yourself — this system destroys people.”

Why Are We Prioritising Institutional Pain Over Human Pain?

The political narrative this week became a story about “charities at risk.” But the charities at risk cannot exist outside the system that is harming tens of thousands of people who rely on them.

The deeper truth?

If claims management were reviewed — properly reviewed — insurers might walk.

And maybe the sector fears that more than it fears the suffering of the injured.

Because a transparent, independent investigation into claims management would expose what everyone already knows:

• psychological claims aren’t expensive; mismanagement is

• delays cost more than care

• surveillance costs more than support

• disputes cost more than treatment

• pushing people out of work costs the entire state

• and the system’s culture is the biggest driver of harm and cost

So instead of calling for a review, we’re watching a coordinated message: “Protect charities, protect business, protect the scheme.”

But what about protecting people?

Injured Workers Deserve Care Too

If we can mobilise for bushfires, floods, droughts, cost-of-living pressures and charity survival…then we can mobilise for the tens of thousands harmed inside the workers’ compensation system.

Care is not a finite resource. Compassion is not a budget line. And crisis support should not be determined by who chairs which board.

NSW must ask itself:

If this system truly is “broken,” as the McKell Institute stated —then where is the care for the people it is breaking?

Not the institutions. Not the insurers. Not the charities.

The people.

If we cannot answer that, then the real disaster is not rising premiums. It is our moral compass.