🟥 While the World Regulates AI, NSW Can’t Even Govern the Systems It Already Runs
Nov 3
2 min read
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Europe is regulating AI.
The US has issued federal AI Executive Orders.
The UK has an AI Safety Institute.
Canada is building public-sector AI audit and redress frameworks.
And NSW?
Two major documents released in the past week confirm the State still cannot control the technology already deciding treatment, income and outcomes for injured workers.
NSW Auditor-General — Internal Controls & Governance 2025https://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Final%20report%20-%20IC%26G%202025.pdf
NSW Parliament — Public Accountability & Works Committee, Report No. 5 (Nov 2025)https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/inquiries/3108/Report%20No%205%20-%20PAWC%20-%20Workers%20Compensation%20-%20FINAL.pdf
What we now know:
SafeWork NSW — previously found to be using a 20-year-old IT system to regulate workplace safety (2024 Audit: https://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/our-work/reports/safework-nsw)
icare — running on the Guidewire “Insurance Technology Platform” approved in 2015, now in its 10th year of remediation and data correction after a disasterous launch phase (icare Annual Report: https://www.icare.nsw.gov.au/-/media/icare/unique-media/about-us/annual-report/media-files/files/related-downloads/icare-annual-report--2015-16.pdf)
SIRA (the regulator) — appears in the Auditor-General’s “internal controls” findings but has no mature AI governance framework, and is not included in the AI or cyber thematic analysis (Appendix p. 47)(Audit 2025: first link above)
New Parliamentary PAWC report confirms the human consequence
“At least 59 injured workers have died by suicide since 2020… SIRA confirmed suicide is under-reported in the system.”(PAWC Report No. 5, p. 27)
Parliament also warns:
“Leaving workers with serious psychological injury without access to required supports carries a significant risk of self-harm or suicide.”(PAWC Finding 6)
And confirms the legal trade-off we exposed months ago:
“Removing access to damages claims where the injury is caused by employer negligence is unjust.”(PAWC Finding 10)
The “solution” recommended by the Government to be legislated?
Raise the psychological injury threshold from 15 % to 31 %. Fewer people enter. Harm remains unmeasured.
Why this is now undeniable
For the first time, both the NSW Auditor-General and a Parliamentary Committee have confirmed what injured workers have been screaming for years:
The system can’t be trusted to track outcomes
Psychological injuries are being made worse by the process
The regulator does not have the tools to regulate nor can manage complaints
Human harm is occurring and under-reported
Reform is being legislated without system comprehension
The State is attempting to legislate the future of workers’ compensation without understanding the system that already exists. The PAWC Report is damning.
What AI has to do with this
Because if the State cannot:
track suicide reliably,
guarantee timely treatment,
monitor claim decisions, or
audit insurer behaviour…
…how can it possibly claim to have oversight of automated triage rules, workflow engines, or digital decision-making inside icare and its CSPs?
And it is clear from all these reports no one understand its - but all know something is gravely wrong.
This is exactly how Robodebt began:unverified data + automation + no human override + no redress.
NSW has two choices now:
Keep legislating blind and hope no one notices the technology behind the curtain
OR Admit the system needs a full accountability audit before any reform proceeds
The buried headline is this
NSW built the world’s first automated injury-assessment system in the 1980s. Forty years later, Parliament has now confirmed the human casualties and the State still hasn’t built the accountability framework to govern it.
