The Canberra Institute of Technology is considering whether to take legal action to recover costs after a years-long investigation into controversial consultancy contracts worth $8.7 million-dollars. The ACT Integrity Commission found the CIT’s former Chief Executive engaged in serious corrupt conduct by misleading the CIT Board and ACT Skills Minister about the contracts. Though both the CIT and the government say they are confident this could never happen again, the opposition is concerned about the reputational impact for the institute.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Local Education Union Vice President Karen Noble teaches at CIT.
00:07She says her colleagues are demoralised.
00:10People are worn down because the issue has gone on for so long,
00:14but I think also genuinely would like to see resolution
00:17and the chance to just move on.
00:19The union says staff shortages are taking a toll
00:22on both teachers and students.
00:24Right now, this mid-year point of CIT,
00:27a budget shortfall has been detected.
00:30Understandably, that has to be addressed.
00:32But at the moment, the pain point is hitting the teaching departments.
00:36Yesterday, the ACT Integrity Commission
00:39found former CIT CEO Leanne Cover deliberately concealed concerns,
00:44deceiving CIT's board and Skills Minister Chris Steele
00:47about a series of consultancy contracts
00:50awarded to entities associated with
00:52Mountaineer and consultant Patrick Hollingworth between 2017 and 2022.
00:57Deals the watchdog concluded wouldn't have gone ahead
01:00had the board been properly informed.
01:02After two years on paid leave, last week Miss Cover resigned
01:07and neither she or Mr Hollingworth could be reached for comment.
01:10And while CIT insists it's increased its teaching numbers,
01:14the chair of its board concedes they're still counting the cost.
01:18The contracts certainly have impacted the budget,
01:21but so has the length and expense
01:24of all of the work involved in this inquiry.
01:27CIT is now seeking legal advice about how it might recover those costs,
01:32while the minister says the watchdog's findings
01:34delivered a valuable lesson
01:36on the need for proper procurement processes.
01:39A breach of public trust like this is unacceptable,
01:42and this report sends a strong message
01:44to all senior executives in the ACT public service
01:48and in statutory authorities.
01:50We've done an enormous amount of work improving those processes.
01:54We've also rebuilt our internal corporate capacity,
01:59which was largely depleted at the time of this occurring.
02:05Chris Steele feels the commission's findings vindicated his actions
02:08in raising concerns about the contracts.
02:11The opposition isn't so sure.
02:13At best, Chris Steele has dropped the ball
02:16as the minister with oversight over these contracts,
02:19and at worst, has been utterly useless and ineffective
02:25in bringing scrutiny.
02:27It's clear from Elizabeth Lee's response this morning
02:31that she actually hasn't read the report.
02:34Having analysed material from some 3 million electronic
02:37and hardcopy documents and conducted 37 private examinations,
02:41the Integrity Commission says yesterday's report
02:44represents only the initial stages
02:46of a comprehensive, ongoing investigation.
02:49For more UN videos visit www.un.org