John Nagle has resigned from his roles as chief executive officer and managing director of the icare board.
In a statement released late on Monday night, treasurer Dominic Perrottet, who is also the minister responsible for icare, said he had been informed of the resignation by board chair Michael Carapiet.
“I understand Mr Nagle has informed the board that his decision to leave icare was a difficult one, but he felt the ongoing focus on a range of issues concerning the organisation was adversely impacting the important role it plays in administering the workers’ compensation scheme in NSW,” Perrottet said.
“I would like to thank Mr Nagle for his service with icare and pay tribute to his significant contribution to the insurance industry which spans more than 40 years. On behalf of the NSW government I wish him all the best for his future endeavours. The board will announce a replacement in due course.”
The news comes days after board member Mark Lennon resigned, and a week after a number of allegations regarding icare and its workers’ compensation scheme were aired in a joint investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Four Corners.
Nagle had appeared before a parliamentary inquiry into the scheme just hours before his resignation was announced.
At the Monday hearing, State Insurance Regulatory Authority chief executive Carmel Donnelly reportedly slammed Nagle for saying the public service has a “culture of complaint”.
“I have not seen a culture of complaint, I have seen a culture of service… whistleblowers are not a culture of complaint,” she said, noting that whistleblowers should be protected.
Donnelly also discussed a policy under which icare would assume injured workers had been paid correctly if any of their files had missing information. One of the allegations made by the media was that icare had underpaid 52,000 injured workers by up to $80 million in compensation.
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Nagle was questioned about icare contracts, including a number of contracts with Nagle’s former colleagues at Bridge International, and contracts to insurance brokers which are currently being investigated by SIRA.
He was also asked about $360 million awarded to consulting firm Cap Gemini and software provider Guidewire. The latter had organised for Nagle to make a trip to Las Vegas, which he failed to declare.
The inquiry heard that Nagle had been sanctioned by the icare board and lost a short-term bonus in 2019 over his handling of a contract awarded to his wife. Nagle told the hearing he didn’t know how much money his partner had received for the job.
The wife was contracted to work on a project for icare’s workers’ compensation scheme, which had prompted an internal complaint. Nagle told the hearing that he had disclosed the conflict to his chief executive and the chief legal officer, but the disclosure was “deficient”.
He said he had threatened to resign when he lost his bonus, but Carapiet had convinced him to stay.
In a statement released by icare on Tuesday regarding the official resignation, Nagle said he was dedicated to improving outcomes for customers while at icare.
“Leading the transformation of icare was one of the most challenging and rewarding times of my career, and I am glad to see the benefits now starting to be realised,” he said.
“While I am saddened to leave, I’m also proud of the people at icare who every day approach their work with passion, dedication and focus to give more for our customers and the broader NSW community.”
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