Liberals call for Chief Minister to step in over pay rise for stood-down CIT CEO

You’re so right, let’s just put the Liberals in charge even though they only got 34% of the votes and 9/25 seats. Because democracy is only when your party is in power right?

But the Greens only have 6 seats but they are the ones in power.

They are in power as the minority party in a coalition. For Labor to pass legislation they need to ensure they have the votes, the Greens (or any party) can request a Bill to be amended in exchange for the votes. Labor can either accept or reject (and the Bill gets scrapped). The options are either to operate in a partnership or simply not pass legislation for the 3 years. Labor (as expected by the voters) decided for option A. Not sure why that’s hard to comprehend. Do you just think a party (either Labor or Liberal) should have full control on which laws are passed and repealed even though they have less than 50% of the seats and votes? Or do you think minority parties in a coalition should simply bend over and vote 100% yes to the major parties even if their voting base wouldn’t agree with the policy?

Because there haven’t been any findings of misconduct yet. Would you rather we strip their pay, so then they can’t pay their mortgage and buy food for a year and end up homeless, only to be cleared of wrongdoing? I agree the investigation should be given priority status so it’s finalised quickly, but until then they’re innocent until proven guilty. Imagine if you were in this situation and you were confident you did nothing wrong, but you ended up losing everything because your pay was withheld for a year – bet you wouldn’t be happy.

What a nonsense argument. The Leader of the Opposition should have every right to question Remuneration Tribunal decisions when a blatant waste of taxpayer funds is involved such as is the case here. Similarly, all taxpayers should have this right.

Where in my comment did I state that the leader of the opposition does not have a right to question Tribunal decisions? I do however question Ms Lee using the media to publicly criticise and undermine the Remuneration Tribunal in making its decisions.

Ms Lee is also undermining well established laws by demanding that the chief minister intervene and interfere in a formal determination of the Tribunal.

Our parliament has proper legal and governmental processes which prohibit the Assembly, or our Chief Minister the power to intervene, interfere or change or reject a determination.

Jack D, you’ll still vote for the incompetent Lab/Greens though, regardless of what travesties this useless government unleashes on the taxpayer

@Jack D.
“Ms Lee is also undermining well established laws by demanding that the chief minister intervene and interfere in a formal determination of the Tribunal.”

That’s a bit OTT, Jack.

Ms Lee has “… asked Mr Barr and the ACT Remuneration Tribunal to consider recent changes the Commonwealth Remuneration Tribunal made to revoke compensation to Secretaries who have been similarly stood down pending an investigation or have been found to breach the Australian Public Service Code of Conduct.”

It doesn’t seem to me, she is undermining the Tribunal. Ms Lee just made a recommendation for consideration on future Tribunal deliberations.

On the ACT Remuneration Tribunal’s website, prior to the Spring 2023 Sitting, they sought feedback on the remuneration and entitlements of a number of public office holders: “The Tribunal welcomes written submissions about the remuneration, allowances and other entitlements to be paid to the above office holders from interested persons including occupants of the positions, organisations and associations, and members of the community.”

The Remuneration Tribunal Act 1995 states quite clearly that the Tribunal may inform itself in any way it considers appropriate when conducting an inquiry. The Government has no power to reject or change a determination about either their own remuneration or the remuneration of other public officials.

Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee has made public statements criticising the Tribunal for its recent determination granting the CEO of the CIT a wage increase. There have been no findings of wrongdoing being found against the CEO with the inquiry’s report pending. Ms Lee has also written to the Remuneration Tribunal calling on them to review the decision. She is quite entitled to do this but the Tribunal is clear; formal decisions made by them will not be reviewed, rejected or changed. She is also demanding the government do the same. The government has stated that they will not interfere in Tribunal decision making as it is an independent authority and makes its determinations across the board in an impartial way. As far as I am aware, I can’t remember any other political party interfering in this way in a determination of the Tribunal. I am happy to be proven wrong!

Of course the Tribunal seeks submissions from interested parties when making remuneration decisions for individual public offices. Submissions are displayed on the their website and inform their decisions. Whether an employee has been stood down or is under investigation for breaches has had no bearing on this decision. However, in a recent decision the Commonwealth Remuneration Tribunal made the decision to revoke compensation for public office holders under certain conditions. This includes breaches of the Public Service Act, being found by the National Anti-Corruption Commissioner to have engaged in corrupt activities or recommended for termination. As noted above, there have been no findings of wrongdoing in this CIT contracts inquiry with its findings pending.