I looked at the 2021 ACT government report on CIT and saw the current appropriation for that worthy institution was $78.4 million plus $9.6 for capital works. A total of around $88 million. The total appropriation was not all that much higher than the $55 million or so I remember CIT getting when I was minister 20 years ago (and in real terms, maybe less).

Imagine how concerned I was to read last week that the CIT CEO and board had awarded to a consultant, one Patrick Hollingsworth whose company is “think garden”, about $8.5 million in consultancy contracts since 2017.

The last contract for $4,999,000 seems to have asked the contractor to “Take a multi-disciplined and multi-scaled approach to the co design and implementation of appropriate practices for internal learning and knowledge exchange, for developing improved situational awareness, and for developing both context-specific and generalised responses to the situations CIT encounters”. Great job if you can get it. After about six schooners I reckon I could do that (whatever “that” is) on my ear!

The question is, what is it? What on earth is the consultant being paid for and why is a not insignificant proportion of CIT’s limited budget being spent on such gobbledygook? 

I’m pleased to see Elizabeth Lee take this up, and the relevant minister Mr Steel, can’t duck-shove his responsibility. He did know about it last year and did query it but was “reassured” it was OK. It is not uncommon for ministers to be “reassured” of lots of things, but that doesn’t absolve the minister from delving deeper and doing their own investigations when something looks a bit strange.

I was further disappointed but hardly surprised to see the Greens side with their Labor comrades on this one and, naturally, as a result, Ms Lee’s motion of no confidence in the minister failed. 

Teachers and other staff at CIT have always worked hard in a difficult environment. They provide a critical role in helping skill our tradies and apprentices and people seeking vocational education qualifications in anything from Child Care to Hospitality. The CIT often has to scrimp and save to be able to fund these courses, and the last thing staff and students at CIT want is for money to be spent on something no one (including the minister it seems) can explain.

The questions that need asking are: What exactly is this contract meant to do? How does it help CIT? What does it mean in plain English? Whose brainwave is it? How was the tender process conducted? Were there any “mates deals”? Was there anything dodgy? Were any laws broken and if so, by who, and, if so, do the police need to be called in?

This appears such a blatant waste of scarce taxpayer funds it seems to me the minister, the CEO and maybe some of the board should be dismissed. They certainly have a lot of explaining to do. 

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Canberra Daily.

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