Why the Business NSW boss faces criticism for his $100k board position

A key backer of the NSW government’s contentious workers’ compensation reforms has continued to receive a $100,000 annual taxpayer-funded fee for his position on icare’s board while lobbying for the proposed changes to be passed in parliament.

Business NSW chief executive Daniel Hunter’s dual role as an employers’ peak body representative and board member for the government agency that insures and cares for injured workers has been described as a “gross breach of public governance and accountability” by Greens finance spokesperson Abigail Boyd.

At the same time, a fellow icare director, Unions NSW’s boss Mark Morey, has opted out of his payment and has temporarily recused himself from the board while the reforms are debated. Morey is the employee representative on the board and Hunter is the employer representative.

A spokesman for Business NSW said support for the government’s legislation was “entirely consistent with our members’ views”.

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey’s attempts to reform the workers’ compensation scheme have become bogged down by political opposition. The Greens, Coalition and members of the crossbench all oppose plans to double the threshold required for injured workers to receive long-term medical payments.

An upper house committee established to examine the reforms resolved to hand down its report on Monday. The legislation is expected to return for a vote in the November sitting period, with the government staring down the barrel of a significant loss.

Boyd, who also serves as chair of the committee examining the workers’ compensation scheme, savaged Hunter’s alleged failure to recuse himself from icare board meetings.

“It’s been galling to see an active member of the icare board, the chief executive of Business NSW, maintaining his privileged level of influence and access to the governance of the workers’ compensation scheme while actively campaigning in support of the government’s agenda to cut entitlements,” she said.

Hunter had “continued to publicly and inaccurately claim the scheme’s financial position is deteriorating by millions of dollars per day”, Boyd said, despite being furnished with financial statements in June that showed a “half a billion dollar improvement to the scheme’s financial position”.

A spokesman for Mookhey said the government changed the law to ensure both Unions NSW and Business NSW were guaranteed a seat on the board, with the unanimous support of the parliament.

“Any claim of a conflict of interest is ridiculous, bordering on desperate,” he said. “You don’t need to be a member of the icare board to know the system is broken and in dire need of reform.”

During debate over legislation in August 2023, Liberal treasury spokesman Damien Tudehope questioned the necessity of creating two new seats, one for employers and another for unions, on the icare board.

“Guess what? They are already there. [Former NSW Labor leader] John Robertson is there. Is anyone suggesting he is not a representative of Unions NSW? He is a former secretary of Unions NSW. Mark Goodsell is there. He is from the AI Group. There is already in place an employer representative and a union representative,” he said.

In response to questions about Hunter’s appointment to the icare board, and whether he regularly disclosed his position while advocating for reform, a spokesman for Business NSW said support for the legislation was consistent with members’ views, and “publicly supported by 20 other employer organisations”.

“Business NSW has been closely involved in workers’ compensation reform since the inception of the scheme nearly 100 years ago,” he said.

“For the last decade Business NSW has consistently called for reform which led to the former government commissioning the McDougall review after the 2019 election and the current government seeking to implement those reforms after 2023.”

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