ACT Integrity Commission's CIT contracts investigation update

The ACT Integrity Commission has said it has made significant headway into the complex and high-profile investigation into a series of contracts awarded by the institute to companies owned by "complexity and systems thinker" Patrick Hollingworth.

The commission's 2022-23 annual report said it continued to receive reports related to the contracts through the year. The report said there were eight extra received over 2022-23 which were incorporated into the commission's investigation of CIT.

No public examinations have been held into the awarding of the contracts but ACT integrity commissioner Michael Adams KC has previously flagged that a public examination was likely.

The annual report also revealed there had been 21 people privately examined as part of its investigation into the tender process for an expansion of Campbell Primary School.

Public examinations into this investigation have taken place over recent months. The commission is investigating whether Education Directorate officials failed to exercise their official functions honestly and impartially while handling the procurement process for the construction.

Education Minister Yvette Berry has fronted the commission.

The report said the commission had to prioritise the two investigations dubbed Operation Luna (CIT) and Kingfisher (Campbell Primary School).

"Throughout the reporting period, the Commission had to prioritise its work on existing investigations," the report said.

"In particular, operations Luna and Kingfisher were prioritised as they required a significant amount of investigative work and because of the seriousness of the allegations.

"Other investigations were temporarily put on hold pending resources becoming available."

The commission currently has 13 investigations and two of these relate to alleged criminal conduct. Both the CIT and Campbell Primary School investigations related to alleged abuses of power.

The commission does normally not reveal the contents of its investigations but an exception was made in the case of CIT due to the significant public interest surrounding the case.

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CIT chief executive Leanne Cover has been stood down for more than a year over the contracts. CIT's board has also expressed concern at the length of the watchdog's investigation.

Mr Adams wrote in the report's foreword that the commission felt the pressure of delivering outcomes, especially for high-profile matters, but was hindered by resourcing and staffing shortages.

"The commission also concentrated on dealing with a substantial backlog of corruption reports due to staffing shortfalls the previous year," he said.

"This work can be underappreciated - the assessment of these corruption reports is not necessarily a public output in the way the commission's investigative or educative efforts are. However, it is an important way that the commission identifies corrupt conduct that is occurring in the ACT.

"As in previous years, the commission continued to feel the weight of implicit and explicit expectations to produce results and deliver investigation outcomes, particularly in high-profile matters."

Mr Adams said at the end of the 2022-23 year, the commission was "largely fully staffed" for the first time.

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