Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee: “This government is … obsessed with muzzling any attempt at scrutiny and transparency.” Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Labor and the Greens have blocked a Canberra Liberals motion for an inquiry into the resignation of Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) CEO Leanne Cover, who quit last week amidst a corruption probe and after two years receiving a $350,000-a year-plus salary while stood down.
Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee’s motion on Tuesday (25 June) sought a Legislative Assembly inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Ms Cover’s resignation and the details of any taxpayer-funded severance payout she may have received. However, all Labor and Green MLAs voted down this motion.
In June 2022, Ms Cover was stood down from her position 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.
ACTIC had planned to hand a special report on its investigation to the Legislative Assembly last week, but a person named in the report had gone to the Supreme Court seeking an injunction to prevent the Commission from doing so.
In the Assembly, Ms Lee questioned why the former CEO received both full pay and annual pay rises while she was stood down for the two-year duration of the ACTIC inquiry.
“The Canberra Liberals have raised questions on how much longer the CEO would remain on full pay of almost $380,000. We were assured repeatedly that this situation would be reviewed regularly. If there were reviews done, they were utterly useless,” Ms Lee said.
“ACT taxpayers have also forked out the exact same salary for an interim CEO plus additional travel expenses as she does not reside in the ACT … at a time Canberrans are facing a cost-of-living crisis.”
She outlined questions that would be the focus of her proposed inquiry.
“Why, after over two years on paid leave, did Ms Cover resign days after being advised that the Integrity Commissioner was due to hand down his report?” she asked.
“What are the full details of her payout following her resignation?”
CIT CEO Leanne Cover resigned last week. Photo: File.
In opposing the motion, Skills Minister Chris Steel, who is responsible for CIT, said an inquiry would be inappropriate while the ACTIC investigation was ongoing.
“This is effectively asking for an inquiry into the circumstances of an inquiry that is still underway,” he said.
ACT Greens Leader Shane Rattenbury said his party may support an inquiry into the CEO’s resignation in the future but also wanted to wait for the full ACTIC report.
Ms Lee rejected these arguments, saying the ACTIC investigation was not “active” and was completed in November last year.
“This government is … obsessed with muzzling any attempt at scrutiny and transparency,” she said.
Ms Lee said the CIT matter was of considerable public interest.
“The CEO was stood down after the utterly ridiculous terms and extraordinary values of the contracts came to light,” she said.
She listed the type of services for which the CIT paid companies owned by Patrick Hollingworth.
“Design processes, systems and structures that enable greater coordination of analysis and strategic decision-making in relation to product offerings and services and type of feedback mechanisms to apply – I have to take a breath here, madam speaker – apply a coherent approach to the implementation of strategic actions for the whole organisation.
“It would be laughable if it wasn’t eight-and-a-half million dollars of ACT taxpayers’ money.”
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