Joy Burch inquiry into Menslink affair clears her of breaching ministerial code

The report reveals that Ms Burch learned about the visits after the first, raising the question of whether she should have intervened, to ensure her son had the correct clearances or stop the visits, given his conviction. But Dr Crispin said Ms Burch was entitled to assume Menslink would comply with Working with Vulnerable People rules.

Ms Burch had told the head of the education directorate, Diane Joseph, in August, asking Ms Joseph to tell her if any concerns were raised. "Of course, she could have raised the matter with her much earlier, but there was no apparent obligation for her to have done so and, when the director general was informed, she indicated that no concerns had been raised by anyone."

Lloyd Burch visited schools under the Silence is Deadly program while awaiting sentencing after being convicted for a knife-point robbery. He didn't have a Working with Vulnerable People clearance, for which Menslink was fined. He visited Canberra High, Blue Gum, Lanyon High, Queanbeyan High, Amaroo High, Carolyn Chisholm High, Daramalan, Namadgi, Mary MacKillop, John Paul II and St Edmunds.

Liberal Leader Jeremy Hanson referred the issue to Dr Crispin, whose report said the issues were serious and had warranted investigation. But "no breach of the minister's duty has been substantiated".

Ms Burch had suggested the involvement with Menslink and her son had met Menslink head Martin Fisk when he attended the Multicultural Festival with his mother in February 2014.

But Dr Crispin said there was no suggestion that encouraging her son to get involved was an ethical breach in itself. The real question was whether she had influenced Mr Fisk to take her son into schools where others in a similar situation would probably have been excluded. There was no evidence she had done so.

Mr Fisk had made the key decisions and written two references for Lloyd Burch in court.

Stressing that his investigation was about Ms Burch's conduct, not Mr Fisk's, Dr Crispin said while Mr Fisk "may well have been sensitive to the fact that Mr Burch was the minister's son", the evidence "does not support an inference that he consciously departed from his duty in order to impress the minister".

"The possibility that his initial decision to involve Mr Burch in the Silence is Deadly program may have been influenced, in part, by a desire to please the minister cannot be so readily dismissed, but even this has not been established," Dr Crispin said.

"There was no obvious reason for him to have rejected an approach from any young man in Mr Burch's position and no evidence to suggest that the minister did or said anything in an attempt to influence him to give her son preference in some way."

Dr Crispin took evidence from Menslink employee Neale Roberts, who said Lloyd Burch should not have been in schools and the resources of Menslink should not be used "to reduce the punishment of a crime before the courts". Dr Crispin said the concern should not be wholly discounted and groups should be alert to the risk of being manipulated by people before the courts. But he nevertheless believed that mentoring groups should help people struggling with drug, alcohol or mental health problems, even when they were before the courts.

Ms Burch asked Mr Fisk to write at least one of the court references, but said she had made the approach as a mother, not a minister. Dr Crispin concluded she was entitled to ask. Whle the code of conduct said members should not seek benefit for themselves or their family or friends, a literal interpretation would prevent them from "engaging in many of the normal activities of life, such as borrowing the proverbial cup of sugar".

"In a city like Canberra it will not always be possible for members to wholly avoid seeking help from people who might conceivably be influenced by the public office they hold."

Opinions would differ on whether people with a history of drug or alcohol abuse or a criminal record should be in schools, with some concerned about the impressionable nature of teenage boys, but others believing depressed teenagers might respond to someone who has been down a destructive path.

"It is not my role to determine what policy the minister should have adopted or even where she should have adopted any policy at all," he said.

Ms Burch said she hoped ".

"I'm proud of my son, and the fine young man he has become and continues to be. I will always be grateful to Justice Burns for the opportunity he gave him to turn his life around, and to Menslink for their support."