When Regulators Close Ranks: Systemic Harm - March 2021 - Part 1

This and subsequent posts record a short but critical sequence of events in March 2021.

It is grounded in contemporaneous correspondence.

It is not advocacy.

It is documentation.

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1. 9 March 2021 — SIRA NSW Closes My Complaint Without Inquiry

On 9 March 2021, the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA NSW) issued a “CC Level 2 Escalation – Customer Closure” response to my complaint concerning my employer and the handling of my workers compensation claim.

SIRA NSW stated that it had liaised with SafeWork NSW and that:

• the employer’s Return to Work practices were “compliant” with workers compensation legislation, and

• the Return to Work Coordinator was “appropriately trained and qualified”.

On that basis, SIRA NSW closed my complaint.

What the correspondence did not disclose was decisive:

• Who conducted the investigation;

• What evidence was reviewed;

• Whether my contemporaneous records were examined;

• Whether my treating doctor was consulted;

• How conclusions were reached in circumstances where I had no functioning case manager, no one therefore to implement the injury management plan, and no coordinated return-to-work process.

Most critically, SIRA NSW did not investigate the basic facts it purported to rely on.

No regulator established:

• who the Return to Work Coordinator actually was,

• whether that person ever contacted me,

• whether they had authority to coordinate my return,

• or whether a Return to Work Plan was ever intended to be implemented.

I had drafted a Return to Work Plan myself, in good faith, while injured—because no coordinator was performing that role. That draft was never meaningfully engaged with. See Enter unSafeWork NSW & “that” RTW plan I drafted - October 2020.

To this day:

• I have never been provided with the employer’s alleged Return to Work Program;

• I have never been provided with coordination to implement the injury management plan;

• and I have never seen evidence that my employer intended to cooperate with return-to-work obligations at all.

None of this was investigated.

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2. 10 March 2021 — The Immediate Health Impact

In the early hours of 10 March 2021, after receiving SIRA NSW’s closure email, I forwarded the correspondence to my treating GP.

At that time:

• I was already under medical care;

• I reported living in fear;

• and I documented the cumulative psychological harm caused not only by workplace conduct, but by the regulatory process itself.

When regulators close complaints without transparency, exclude evidence, and redirect responsibility endlessly, the system itself becomes a source of harm.

This was not abstract.

It was immediate.

It was medical.

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3. 10 March 2021 — Reporting Suspected Corruption to ICAC

Later that same day, 10 March 2021, I lodged a formal complaint with the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

I did so because:

• the investigation described by SIRA NSW was not transparent;

• I had been denied procedural fairness;

• and it appeared that decisions were being made without my participation, despite my extensive contemporaneous records.

The complaint was acknowledged on the same day.

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What Was Not Investigated — and Why That Failure Matters

Despite the language used by SIRA NSW, no regulator ever investigated:

• the absence of a functioning Return to Work Coordinator,

• the absence of an implemented Return to Work Plan,

• the absence of a cooperative injury management process,

• or the ongoing harassment by the perpetrator—the cause of my workers compensation claim.

I had reported that harassment to a SafeWork NSW inspector.

That inspector:

• did not intervene,

• did not stop the perpetrator,

• and did not remove the psychosocial hazard causing ongoing harm.

Instead, SIRA NSW later advised that it had spoken with SafeWork NSW and, on the basis of that communication alone, closed my complaint.

My contemporaneous records meant nothing to either regulator.

My treating doctor was not consulted.

I meant nothing.

The process occurred between the perpetrator (the National Manager of Employment Relations and Safety), the SafeWork NSW inspector, and “Customer Support” at SIRA NSW—without transparency, without procedural fairness, and without regard for the injured worker at the centre of it.

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The Regulatory “Fob-Off”: Redirected Everywhere, Accountable Nowhere

In closing my complaint, SIRA NSW advised me to pursue other avenues for specific concerns, including:

• SafeWork NSW

• the Fair Work Commission

• the Privacy Commissioner

• NSW Police

This redirection is documented in SIRA NSW’s correspondence.

However, each referral failed to address the core issue SIRA NSW itself was responsible for: enforcing compliance with workers compensation, injury management, and return-to-work obligations.

SafeWork NSW

SIRA NSW referred me to SafeWork NSW — the very regulator it had already “liaised” with before closing my complaint. That pathway had already failed to stop the harassment or ensure a lawful return-to-work process.

That experience is documented here:

https://mystory-myvoice.blogspot.com/2025/08/enter-unsafework-nsw-that-rtw-plan-i.html?m=1

NSW Police

SIRA NSW also suggested police involvement.

I had already pursued that avenue. It did not result in protection, enforcement, or safety. The response of the court registry is documented here:

https://mystory-myvoice.blogspot.com/2025/07/apvo-court-registrars-response.html?m=1

Privacy Commissioner

SIRA NSW suggested I raise privacy concerns with the Privacy Commissioner.

But how would the Privacy Commissioner:

• compel an employer to comply with injury management obligations?

• order an insurer to provide statutory entitlements?

• enforce return-to-work cooperation?

Those powers sit squarely within SIRA NSW’s jurisdiction.

Referring me elsewhere did not resolve the breach.

It avoided responsibility.

Fair Work Commission

Finally, SIRA NSW suggested the Fair Work Commission.

What followed was not “fair work”.

The risk of being publicly attacked, disbelieved, and humiliated on the public record compounded my injury rather than resolving it. That “risk” is documented extensively, including:

• When a Cry for Safety Is Answered by Lawyers - February 2021

• Clayton Utz - Isolation, Intimidation & Victim-Blaming in the Workers Compensation System

• Employment lawyer #3 - Part 5 - Unacceptable and unfair legal advice - 2020

• The Unfair Work Commission - denying employees their generally protected rights - Part 1

• The Unfair Work Commission - denying employees their generally protected rights - Part 2

• The Unfair Work Commission - denying employees their generally protected rights - Part 3

None of these processes restored my statutory entitlements.

None ensured injury management compliance.

None made me safer.

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The Truth Injured Workers Are Not Told

Speaking up through SafeWork NSW did not protect me.

Remaining silent would not have protected me either.

For me, speaking up did not save a life.

But silence would have meant accepting ongoing harm without record or resistance.

This is the impossible position injured workers are placed in.

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A Question That Remains

SafeWork NSW encourages workers to speak up about workplace risks, including through its “Speak Up” app:

https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/advice-and-resources/speak-up-app

The principle is sound.

The intention matters.

But when speaking up leads to:

• inaction,

• regulatory closure without inquiry,

• and further harm to the person who raised concerns, a serious question remains:

If speaking up does not protect workers, and silence does not protect them either — what are we meant to do?

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Summary — What Happened

In summary:

• SIRA NSW closed my complaint without conducting an independent, transparent investigation.

• SafeWork NSW did not stop the ongoing harassment that caused my injury.

• No Return to Work Coordinator functioned in practice.

• No Return to Work Plan was cooperatively implemented.

• No Return to Work Program was ever provided to me.

• My evidence and medical records were disregarded.

• I was redirected across agencies that lacked the power—or will—to enforce compliance.

• Decisions were made without my participation.

This is why I documented what happened.

This is why I escalated concerns.

And this is why silence in regulatory systems is not neutral—it is dangerous.

(Documents 152, 156 and 159). 

Now read: 

SIRA NSW - Regulatory Priorities 2025-26