Canberra Institute of Technology explores legal options follow former CEO corruption

Local Education Union vice president Karen Noble teaches at CIT. She says her colleagues are demoralised. People are worn down because the issue has gone on for so long. But I think also genuinely would like to see resolution and the chance to just move on. The union says staff shortages are taking a toll on both teachers and students. Right now this media point of CITA budget shortfall has been detected. Understandably that has to be addressed, but at the moment the pain point is hitting the teaching departments. Yesterday the ACT Integrity Commission found former CITCEO Leanne cover deliberately concealed concerns deceiving CIT board and Skills Minister Chris Steele about a series of consultancy contracts awarded to entities associated with Mountaineer and consultant Patrick Hollingworth between 2017 and 2022, deals the watchdog concluded wouldn't have gone ahead had the board been properly informed after two years on paid leave. Last week Miss COVID resigned and neither she or Mr. Hollingworth could be reached for comment. And while CIT insists it's increased its teaching numbers, the chair of its board concedes. They're still counting the cost. The contracts certainly have impacted the budget, but so has the length and expense of all of the work involved in this inquiry. CIT is now seeking legal advice about how it might recover those costs, while the minister says the watchdog's findings delivered a valuable lesson on the need for proper procurement processes. A breach of public trust like this is unacceptable and this report sends a strong message to all senior executives in the ACT. Public service and in statutory authorities, we've done an enormous amount of work improving those processes. We've also rebuilt our internal corporate capacity, which was largely depleted at the time of this this occurring. Christie feels the commission's findings vindicated his actions in raising concerns about the contracts. The opposition isn't so sure. At best, Chris Steele has dropped the ball as the minister with oversight over these contracts and at worst. Has been utterly useless and ineffective in bringing scrutiny. It's clear from Elizabeth Lee's response this morning that she actually hasn't read the report. Having analysed material from some 3 million electronic and hard copy documents and conducted 37 private examinations. The Integrity Commission says yesterday's report represents only the initial stages of a comprehensive, ongoing investigation.