Print and marketing business IVE Group was awarded millions of dollars in contracts by state-run workers' compensation insurer icare without all of the contracts being put to an open tender, according to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald. ASX-listed IVE - headed by executive chairman and former NSW Liberal Party president Geoff Selig - has 'extensive links' to the NSW Liberal Party, says the report.
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Geoff Selig, chairman IVE Group |
The allegations regarding IVE Group are among new details from a joint investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and ABC TV's Four Corners into Australia’s $60 billion workers' compensation system that has uncovered mismanagement of the state government-run scheme in NSW and "unethical" conduct in Victoria.
Icare, overseen by NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet, has spent more than $18.3 million with IVE Group since 2015, said the latest report by investigative journalist Adele Ferguson.
“But in an apparent breach of state laws, the NSW government's e-tender site only discloses contracts worth just over $10 million awarded by icare to the company. Between 2014 and 2019, IVE Group donated almost $100,000 to the NSW Liberal Party. It also donated $55,500 to the federal Liberal Party in 2018.”
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Gavin Bell, non-executive director IVE |
The report said IVE Group shares a common director with icare. Gavin Bell is deputy chairman of icare, earning $100,000 a year in director fees, and $105,000 as a director of IVE.
Icare said Bell had listed his membership of the IVE board on the disclosure of interest register in February 2016. “He has made the appropriate disclosures in accordance with Conflict of Interest policies and has never been involved in any procurement related to the IVE Group,” icare said in a statement, according to the report.
Responding to a series of questions, icare confirmed to SMH that since 2015 it spent $18.3 million with the IVE Group, "including $15.9 million by the Nominal Insurer under a Master Services Agreement and $2.4 million across icare’s other schemes. It added that since July 2018, a key contract continued under the same arrangements on a month-by-month basis, which means it did not go to tender."
IVE Group provides services including mailing, merchandise production, pre-press and printing, stationery, posters and signage, business cards, digital printing, publication printing and freight, the report said. “The company declined to comment on the amount of work it had won with icare but said no work was done for icare outside the contract.
“According to the NSW Electoral Commission, Blue Star, one of the brands under the IVE umbrella, is a major printing client of the Liberal Party and did work during the 2019 election campaign. Blue Star won more than $600,000 of work from the NSW Liberal Party, including political posters, flyers and how-to-vote pamphlets. Federally, it printed various attack flyers including the 2018 Wentworth by-election attack against independent candidate Kerryn Phelps.
“IVE Group said it had been a member of the Liberal Party’s Federal Forum (FF) for a number of years and said 'the speed, quality and scale that IVE can roll out communications is unmatched in this market which is why people choose to use IVE for their marketing and communications requirements.'”
Links between icare and the Liberal Party surfaced after the Herald revealed that icare was paying for two ministerial staff in NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet’s office, in breach of regulations.
“It resulted in the resignation of Nigel Freitas, the Treasurer’s chief of staff. His resignation came amid intense scrutiny of icare’s management and performance after a joint investigation by the Herald, The Age and ABC TV's Four Corners revealed as many as 52,000 injured workers had been underpaid by up to $80 million in compensation, and the regulator had "grave concerns" about its deteriorating financial position."
The NSW regulator that oversees icare confirmed it has referred conduct within the organisation to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
In 2020 financial results announced last month, IVE Group told the ASX that $16.8m in Jobkeeper payments had helped the company record $36.7m in profit, despite a period of “unprecedented volatility and uncertainty."
