A NSW workers compensation claimant has been convicted on two counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception, in a case that adds to a pattern of fraud enforcement by the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) with direct implications for brokers managing employer clients’ premium exposure.
Christopher Halligan was sentenced at Queanbeyan Local Court earlier this month to an 18-month Community Correction Order with a special condition requiring supervision. He was ordered to pay $19,635.42 to the workers compensation insurance fund and $3,000 in costs.
SIRA’s investigation determined that Halligan had taken on undeclared full-time employment while continuing to collect weekly compensation payments from the scheme.
The court found he had submitted five Certificates of Capacity containing false or incomplete employment declarations, resulting in payments worth several thousand dollars to which he was not entitled. He was also found to have submitted 24 pharmacy invoices for prescription medication expenses that were fraudulent.
Presiding Judge R Shafiq described the offending as “objectively serious,” noting that the workers compensation scheme relies upon the integrity of claims and the honesty of claimants.
Her Honour stated that while she accepted Halligan had shown genuine remorse, the sentence needed to recognise the harm done to the community.
The conviction is one of a growing number of fraud cases SIRA has pursued. The regulator reported 11 fraud or non-insurance matters reaching court outcomes since January 2024, with further cases before the courts or under investigation.
Amounts involved have ranged from $4,853 to more than $428,000. In the largest case, Anita Kaura was convicted in December 2025 of 10 fraud offences after signing false statutory declarations while receiving benefits and working undisclosed paid jobs. Kaura was sentenced to a two-year Intensive Correction Order and repaid $428,008.48 to the insurer.
Lauren Sayer, acting executive director of SIRA Regulatory Operations, said at the time of the Kaura prosecution: “We have zero tolerance for fraud. Attempts to deceive or commit fraud will be met with decisive action.”
SIRA’s Q4 2025 regulatory update showed 37 new fraud referrals in workers compensation during that quarter alone, with 50 active fraud investigations open at the end of December 2025.
The trend is not confined to NSW. In Queensland, WorkSafe reported it investigated 164 suspected fraud cases in 2024-25 and started six prosecutions, with four workers sentenced to imprisonment from July 2025 onwards, according to WorkSafe Queensland’s April 2026 scheme update.
WorkCover Queensland board chair Chloé Kopilović said in a June 2026 Queensland government statement that the organisation’s “ongoing investment in fraud detection, prevention, and compliance helps safeguard the integrity of the fund” and ensures premiums are set equitably.
Read more: SIRA prosecutes claimant over workers’ compensation scheme fraud
SIRA has also targeted employers operating without mandatory cover. A July 2025 audit found a 75% non-compliance rate among employers reviewed and recovered $24.5 million in additional premiums, as SIRA’s crackdown on non-compliant employers has continued to intensify.
The premium impact is tangible. The NSW scheme saw consecutive 8% average premium rate increases in 2024-25 and 2025-26, according to the NSW government’s Small Business portal. icare attributed those rises to growing psychological claims, higher weekly benefits and medical costs, and more claims reaching higher whole person impairment levels.
The National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) told a NSW parliamentary committee in June 2025 that “employers are experiencing substantial premium increases” averaging approximately 8% annually.
The NSW government projected premiums would have risen 36% over three years without legislative intervention. Business NSW CEO Daniel Hunter described the reforms as “an important first step in repairing a scheme which has too often failed both business owners.” A legislated premium freeze now holds the Nominal Insurer’s target collection rate at 1.99% for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 premium years, although individual employer premiums can still move based on wages and claims experience. A comprehensive review of icare’s premium model covering about 340,000 employers is also under way, with changes expected from 2028.
Read more: NSW workers compensation framework redrawn as 2026 reforms take hold
As Queensland’s WorkSafe noted, undetected fraud costs are passed on to employers through higher premiums. For brokers advising employer clients in NSW, the combination of active fraud investigations, employer compliance audits recovering millions, and a premium model under review makes claims integrity a practical conversation to have at renewal.
