Question Time

Consumer and Business Services Review Report

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (14:39): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General and the minister responsible for Consumer and Business Services, the Hon. Andrea Michaels, about the Consumer and Business Services Review Report.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: The report by an independent human resources consultant, Rosslyn Cox from Managing for Performance, who is frequently employed by various government agencies as a troubleshooter, opens with a sugar-coated acknowledgement followed by 35 pages of mostly motherhood drivel about workloads, without ever going into specifics of the toxic, incompetent and dysfunctional culture under the now departed commissioner, Dini Soulio, whose name does not appear in it at all.

As some form of consolation and concession of guilt, Minister Michaels says the government will implement all the 26 recommendations made by Ms Cox—cue applause. In reading them, they are little more than what the agency should have done and needs to do to improve its poor service delivery and manage its unhappy and overworked staff, a third of whom do not want to be there—a disturbing fact which isn't explored in detail. There is nothing about the egregious behaviour complaints made by staff about Mr Soulio and others, nor the agency's significant failures like not detecting serious criminal activity at SkyCity Casino, only exiguous references about favouritism, bias and the lack of rigour in the promotions of staff.

An accompanying newspaper article quotes Mr Soulio as being cleared of any wrongdoing. There is nothing resembling that statement in the Cox report. Furious past and present employees of CBS contacted me to say the report is a sanitised 'vanilla-soaked whitewash' cover-up, and that their grave complaints about Mr Soulio, and claims about interference from the minister's office have all ended up on the cutting room floor. Employees, including those describing themselves as victims, and who were courageous enough to come forward, tell me they are now dubious and dejected by the process. My questions to the ministers are:

1. Just who cleared Mr Soulio of inappropriate conduct, and on what grounds?

2. Can the minister explain why there is no reference to Mr Soulio's behaviour and management style, nor complaints made to Ms Cox by staff about ministerial interference?

3. Have victims who complained of Mr Soulio's alleged poor behaviour been notified of these findings?

4. Was the Cox report vetted by the Attorney-General's Department chief executive, Caroline Mealor, and Minister Michaels before being published, given that Ms Cox gushingly acknowledges their invaluable assistance throughout the process to ensure direction, integrity and rigour?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (14:42): I thank the honourable member for his question. I was going to take issue with some of the descriptions that the honourable member used, but I think I can reasonably say that nearly all of the descriptions the honourable member used I don't think are particularly accurate in relation to how I would describe the report or how the report was put together. I think the honourable member may have answered it partly in his question. This was a review into workplace culture. This wasn't an investigation into particular formal complaints. It's that simple.