TasTAFE update call Results unlikely till after election

PREMIER Will Hodgman says Tasmanians are unlikely to know the outcome of an audit into TasTAFE before the State Election.

The Government has been accused by Labor and the Australian Education Union of backflipping on a promise to release quarterly updates during the 12-month audit of TasTAFE.

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff announced the audit in May this year after an Integrity Commission investigation dubbed “Operation Black” revealed nepotism among senior figures and widespread misuse of Tasmanian Government credit cards.

Mr Hodgman yesterday said the results of the audit were likely to be released in June, after the expected March election.

“This is an extensive process that needs to run its course and should be allowed to do so,” he said.

“To release things sort of halfway or even a quarter of the way through does not make sense and we will do what we’ve said we would do and that is provide quarterly updates.”

The audit is being undertaken in four parts, with different areas covered in each quarter.

The first quarterly report was due to focus on credit-card and travel expenditure.

TasTAFE staff were told that “at least quarterly reports on progress [will be] made publicly available” in an internal joint memo from interim chief executive Mark Sayer and Australian Education Union TAFE president Damian Von Samorzewski in June, which carried the Tasmanian Government logo.

Mr Rockliff announced last week he had received the first quarterly report from auditors Wise Lord and Ferguson, including 25 recommendations.

However, he said it would not be appropriate to release the update or specific recommendations because the audit process was ongoing.

Labor skills and training spokesman Josh Willie said the Government needed to tell the public the whole story.

“The minister promised transparency around the TasTAFE audit and now we are seeing the opposite,” he said. “If people have done the wrong thing while employed by taxpayers, the public has a right to know.

“The public needs to have confidence in TasTAFE going forward and, for that to happen, the details of the audit need to be made public like the Government promised.”

Lyons Labor MHR Brian Mitchell joined in calls for the report’s release yesterday, saying the TasTAFE sector was far too important to keep matters of concern hidden.