Minister coy on council GM role

LOCAL Government Minister Roger Jaensch is staying tightlipped over whether he thinks the Huon Valley general manager should remain in his role, after the Auditor-General found the process by which the successful candidate was hired was flawed.

Mr Jaesnch will issue a ministerial order to clarify the standards for future general manager recruitment after the report into the recruitment process was handed down on Tuesday.

Auditor-General Rod Whitehead reviewed the hiring process for the general manager after the successful candidate, Jason Browne, was revealed to be in a relationship with Joanne Inches, the head of the recruitment company hired by the council.

There is no suggestion Mr Browne was not qualified for the role, or that he was not a deserving appointee.

Mr Whitehead found the process was flawed and said it was a key concern the council proceeded with the recruitment despite knowing the process lacked integrity.

“I became aware of the conflict of interest at Huon Valley Council when it was reported in the media and when we received contact from members of the community and we’ve been monitoring it closely,” Mr Jaensch said.

Despite the identified conflict of interest, he said he had no official role to play in the recruitment of a council’s general manager.

However, he said he had sought advice on what options were available to him from the Director of Local Government.

“They are an autonomous level of government,” Mr Jaensch said.

“They have the responsibility for conducting those processes, I have no role to play.

“As an independent sphere of government, it is a matter for each council to ensure the recruitment process for the role of their general manager is fair and merit-based.

“I’ll take further advice on any further action I need to take in relation to local government generally or any particular council.”

Mr Jaensch said the ministerial order would relate to future recruitment processes.

“I expect it will lead to clear performance improvements on the part of councils,” he said.

“In this case, standards for the recruitment and appointment and performance management of general managers because of the important role they play in managing public funds in the local government structure.”

When asked if he believed the outcome should be upheld, Mr Jaensch said the council should review the report and take action based on its advice.