Injured workers, union members and Labor politicians have rallied outside the Sydney office of NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, calling the government a "disgrace" and demanding it clean up the state's embattled public insurer.
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Injured worker Fred Smedes tried to deliver a letter to the premier on Thursday, but was turned away by the building's concierge.
The letter said icare and the NSW workers' compensation system had "lost their moral compass" and urged the premier to clean up the system.
"We were told that we're not allowed in the building, and that all correspondence has to go through an address," Mr Smedes told reporters.
Icare provides workers' compensation insurance to more than 329,000 public- and private-sector employers in NSW and their 3.2 million employees, and has recently been accused of being in dire financial straits and leaving sick workers in the lurch.
Mr Smedes said since he was injured at work 15 years ago, he has been subjected to chronic bureaucratic harassment from the NSW workers' compensation system.
The head of Unions NSW, Mark Morey, said he would send Mr Smedes' letter to every sitting MP in the state, but said the government had so far not properly engaged with workers.
"No one wants to deal with the fact that this government literally has blood on its hands for not looking after its workers," Mr Morey said.
"It is a disgrace."
It is the second union-led protest outside the premier's Martin Place office in as many days, after hundreds of nurses rallied on Wednesday demanding better nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals.
Earlier this week, a confidential August briefing note was released showing the state's treasury had expressed "significant concerns" about icare's financial position to Treasurer Matt Kean and Finance Minister Damien Tudehope.
The note said the insurer would soon need to commit to multi-year, significant increases to ensure its financial stability.
It said that to overcome its projected shortfalls, the insurer would have to lift premiums in 2025 by 33 per cent.
It comes after Mr Kean revealed in budget estimates this year that $1.9 billion was paid to bail out icare's fund for police, teachers and nurses.
Recently icare CEO Richard Harding became one of the few public servants in NSW on a salary of $1 million, while seven of the eight group executives from the insurer were given pay rises of more than $100,000.
The premier on Thursday dismissed claims the system was in financial trouble.
"The insurer is working through those issues and my expectation is that they get resolved as quickly as possible," Mr Perrottet told reporters.
Shadow treasurer Daniel Mookhey says executives at the insurer were continuing to benefit, while workers suffered worsening outcomes and rising premiums.
"No one is winning from icare except its executives," he said on Thursday.
"Small businesses are facing massive premium increases.
"Injured workers are losing their benefits and losing medical support, yet executives are walking away with massive bonuses."
This week Mr Kean rejected claims the insurer was in financial trouble, saying the government planned to get injured workers back on the job faster and improve icare's investments.
He accused Labor of wanting to raise insurance premiums on small businesses.
"That stands in stark contrast to the government's position: to keep premiums low and support injured workers and help them recover," Mr Kean said.
Australian Associated Press
