Tuesday 28 November 2017 The Speaker, Mr Shelton, took the Chair at 10 a.m. and read Prayers. QUESTIONS State Service - Resignations Ms WHITE question to PREMIER, Mr HODGMAN [10.02 a.m.] With just four months to go until the election, your Government is in chaos. Can you confirm the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet has now also resigned following the formal resignation of the Secretary last Thursday? ANSWER Mr Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for the question. It is not the case that this Government is doing anything other than continuing to provide good, strong leadership for our state and to deliver on what is important to Tasmanians; that is, to see the continued growth in our economy, the budget back into balance which means better investment into important things Tasmanians care about such as health, education and supporting the most vulnerable in our community. I cannot confirm the second part of the Leader's question. State Service - Auditor-General's Report Ms WHITE question to PREMIER, Mr HODGMAN [10.03 a.m.] With just four months to go, it is true that your Government is in chaos as we head towards the next election. Last week a damning report from the Auditor-General exposed a culture of unacceptable nepotism in the public service. The report stated: Conflicts of interest were not reported or managed by the selection panel for three of the eight positions examined. And: Earlier recommendations made by my Office and the Integrity Commission have not been implemented by agencies or incorporated into the framework by SSMO ... You have allowed a culture of dishonesty and secrecy to thrive, despite repeated warnings. When will you take responsibility for the chaos enveloping your Government? Why have you allowed Tasmania's most senior public servant, Mr Greg Johannes, to be the scapegoat of this scandalous situation? 1 28 November 2017 ANSWER Mr Speaker, I thank the member for the question. I reject the assertion. I take it with a grain of salt because this is coming from a member of the Labor Party whose own mentor was not able to be cleared by the Supreme Court for a most serious charge of corruption. He was back on the weekend launching the campaign in Braddon. It is not the ghost of Bryan that lives on; he is still very much mentoring the Leader of the Opposition, Rebecca White. We take these matters very seriously. They are the recommendations of the Auditor-General, which is why I was very clear from the outset in stating the Government's clear understanding and expectation that the recommendations from the Auditor-General would be adopted, and processes would be in place to improve practices in government. Much has been done and I will talk about that. Opposition members interjecting. Mr SPEAKER - Order. Mr HODGMAN - That is demonstrating leadership and taking responsibility for matters that can be improved. I made it very clear. It is interesting. On the one hand I get criticised for taking a strong and decisive position and requiring the state Government and its executive work to improve practices. Imagine what would have happened if I had said that everything is fine, it is all under control and we have been doing all these things all along - a lot of which we have. I would be equally criticised. I will point to some of the matters raised in the audit. It examined eight appointments made over 18 months that go over four departments. There have been improvements in that time. Importantly, the audit did not find any major breaches or concerns that the appointment processes of senior officers and employees is flawed, inappropriate or lacking in merit. That hardly sounds chaotic. Nor did it find there has been poor selection outcomes and the audit did not relate to any appointments in my own office, despite it being reported wrongly that was so. It did point to some compliance issues and that documentation is not up to scratch. That is not good enough in a modern public service, in our view. I agree with the Auditor-General that those issues need to be fixed. That will be a priority for the new acting secretary, Ms Gale. The second point is that appointments to the senior executive service, including the recruitment process and selection, are handled by the public sector, not the Premier's Office, not a minister's office and rightly so. They are handled by the public sector at arm's length from the political process. Ms O'Connor - Unless they are a judicial appointment. Mr HODGMAN - That is an outrageous claim. I challenge you to repeat it outside this place. 2 28 November 2017 That is a demonstration of what concerns the Opposition - grubby politics and the politics of personalities. We know it is the place of last resort for the Opposition coalition that has nothing positive to offer and that cares only about besmirching the reputations of people in our community who have done no wrong. While I am prepared to accept it every day from this lot because I have had it every single day I have been in this place, it speaks a lot to the reckless attitude of members opposite that they would stoop to these low levels. We are taking and we take responsibility for what happens in the State Service. While the audit helps to identify areas where there can be improvement, much improvement has been made in the past 18 months. For example, since July 2016, all SES level 3 and 4 selection reports have been examined by the SSMO for compliance and appropriateness prior to being considered by the head of the State Service. Many agencies are implementing declaration of interest policies and procedures based on the work undertaken by the SSMO. The SSMO is working with the Integrity Commission to have practices and policies in place which support the declaration and management of conflicts of interest across all aspects of employment and business management. Employment Direction 17, related to SES arrangements, is being reviewed to support contemporary practices as part of the examination of the employment framework. In March this year, all departmental secretaries and deputy secretaries completed unconscious bias training, which included consideration of unconscious bias and methods to support diversity in recruitment to further ensure selection processes are effective and merit based. Much has been done during this term of government. There is still room for improvement, as the Auditor-General has demonstrated through the report. We accepted that. I said that at the very first opportunity we would get on with the job of improving things and still members opposite complain. State Service - Auditor-General's Report Ms O'CONNOR question to PREMIER, Mr HODGMAN [10.09 a.m.] Last week the Auditor-General released a damning report, pointing to a culture of nepotism and poorly managed conflicts of interest in the public service you lead. This follows on from a 2014 Auditor-General's report, warning about inadequate recruitment processes in the State Service. A year later, the departing head of the Integrity Commission, Murray Kellam QC said that public servants were escaping prosecution because your Government is complacent and that he feared this would give a green light to corruption in this state. In 2015, your party voted against our bill, which would have brought Tasmania into line with other jurisdictions, to establish an offence of misconduct in public office, again a recommendation of the Integrity Commission. Last year the Integrity Commission again warned about poorly managed conflicts of interest and a failure on the part of agencies you lead. Despite this litany of warnings to you, Premier, as head of the State Service, you failed to - Mr FERGUSON - Point of order, Mr Speaker. I draw attention to the speech that has been given and ask you to ask the member to get to the question. 3 28 November 2017 Mr SPEAKER - On the point of order, as members know, there is always substantial leniency given to putting the question but I ask the member to get to her point. Ms O'CONNOR - Premier, despite this litany of warnings to you as head of the State Service, you repeatedly failed to act and last Thursday you effectively threw Greg Johannes, an outstanding secretary of Premier and Cabinet and highly respected within the public service, under a bus in order to deflect from the Auditor-General's report. Do you accept responsibility for Mr Johannes' resignation the next day and a loss to Tasmania of a public servant of the highest integrity, who will be sorely missed across all agencies, or is it again somebody else's fault? ANSWER Mr Speaker, I thank the member for her question. I point to the fact that Mr Johannes has said that he left of his own choosing. For the member to disingenuously come into this place and claim to be his friend, when she would so willingly and dishonestly purport the reasons as to why he left, is an example of the lack of integrity and honesty by the member who asked the question. I will also point out the irony of the member asking the question, which opened with a reference to a 2014 report on the processes in place in government, which was the government that the member who asked the question was a member of. It was the Labor-Greens government. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. It is one rule for the Greens and one for the rest of us.