‘Jesus Christ’: CIT CEO found guilty of ‘serious corrupt conduct' received $465,000 in entitlements

Former Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) CEO Leanne Cover received a $465,000 taxpayer-funded entitlement payout when she resigned from her position just before a watchdog found she had engaged in “serious corrupt conduct”, a parliamentary hearing was told today (26 July).

This payout was in addition to the $350,000-a-year-plus salary she received for two years while she had been stood down from her position.

In June 2022, Ms Cover was removed from her role after the corruption watchdog, the ACT Integrity Commission (ACTIC), announced it was investigating $8.5 million worth of contracts the CIT awarded to companies owned by “skills and complexity” thinker Patrick Hollingworth.

She formally resigned last month, just days before ACTIC found that she was “guilty of serious corrupt conduct” and that she “intentionally concealed” from the CIT board a letter sent to her from Skills Minister Chris Steel expressing concerns over the contract process.

Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Leader probed CIT board deputy chair Natalie Howson on the matter at a Budget Estimates hearing in the ACT Legislative Assembly on Friday.

Ms Lee: Can you please confirm for the committee the full details of the final entitlements paid to Ms Cover on her resignation?

Ms Howson: Yes, I can; I’m happy to share that with you now.

Ms Lee: Have you got a final figure while you table it?

Ms Howson: The final and lawful entitlement, I must underline … that was paid to Ms Cover was a gross total of $465,262.13.

Ms Lee: So, as in half a million dollars?

Ms Howson: Approximately. With $249,000 of that after tax.

Ms Lee: So almost half a million dollars in payout. That’s in addition to the two years of salary she received?

Ms Howson: Correct.

The audio broadcast of the hearing clearly picks up someone whispering the words “Jesus Christ” immediately after Ms Howson’s revelation.

“It is disgraceful that Ms Cover who was found by the Integrity Commissioner to have engaged in ‘serious corrupt conduct’ has been paid over $1.2 million by Canberra taxpayers,” Ms Lee told media.

“Canberrans have every right to be absolutely outraged by this, whilst at the same time, the Minister has thrown his hands in the air and said he and his government have no accountability.

“No one has taken any accountability for the massive waste of taxpayers’ money and erosion of public trust – not the Minister, not the CIT Board, and certainly not Ms Cover who was allowed to remain on fully paid leave and then received a massive payout, all funded by ACT taxpayers.

“Mr Steel is taking Canberrans for a ride and taxpayers are footing the exorbitant bill, all during a cost of living crisis,” she concluded.