Former Department of Parliamentary Services Secretary Rob Stefanic left the job permanently in December 2024. Photo: LinkedIn.
Sacked Department of Parliamentary Services secretary Rob Stefanic got a $153,660.04 net farewell gift from taxpayers for “early loss of office”, Senate Estimates has been told.
But that’s barely half of what former deputy secretary Cate Saunders, who was in a relationship with Mr Stefanic, was given as an “incentive to retire”.
She got more than $315,000, but there is an ongoing investigation into that payment.
Mr Stefanic was officially sent packing last December but had been on ‘gardening duties’ for some time prior following accusations he presided over a department with a toxic culture.
During Estimates hearings in May last year, Stefanic denied there was a reign of fear from the top down in DPS.
Claims of a practice of perpetual bullying were all put to the secretary during the day-long inquisition, and he repeatedly dismissed them.
“No evidence has been provided as to what those issues actually are apart from hearsay,” he said early in the May hearings.
“The DPS staff census since 2016 has been on an upward trajectory on all its measures.
“That is not reflective of an agency that has a toxic culture or issues to the extent that are just thrown around liberally without any basis or evidence.”
At the subsequent November session of Senate Estimates, Stefanic’s presence was not required,
He was gone permanently the next month.
On Monday (24 February), Senate President Sue Lines confirmed Mr Stefanic had been let go, saying the decision was made by herself and House of Representatives Speaker Milton Dick.
“A loss of trust and confidence” was the reason she gave for the dismissal.
Acting secretary Jaala Hinchcliffe detailed Mr Stefanic’s payout, saying he was eligible for a $141,220.29 loss of office payment, but once adding outstanding leave entitlements and subtracting tax, the former secretary got the $153,000+ as he left.
The investigation into Ms Saunders was meant to be finished by now, but Ms Hinchcliffe conceded that it wasn’t quite ready to be published.
DPS officers at the hearing also confirmed a $20,000 desk that formed part of an upgrade of Ms Saunders’ office while she was there is now languishing in the basement of Parliament House.
The total cost of the furniture upgrade in her office was $56,000
No one seemed to know what would become of the desk, however.
“Maybe we can put it next to the Magna Carta,” said Liberal Senator Jane Hume.
DPS is one of the government’s least accountable agencies. It’s not subject to Freedom of Information laws, it won’t say who is sponsoring lobbyists to Parliament House, and it doesn’t take part in the APS Census.
Since 2019, DPS has opted out of the APS Census and does its own, publishing the results on its own website.
Specific but anonymous quotes from “scared staff” were put to Mr Stefanic in May 2024 while he was still secretary.
But it was his personal life and the possibility of a conflict of interest involving Ms Saunders that the committee has been most keen to uncover.
Last week, former Social Service Department boss Ray Griggs delivered a stinging rebuke to politicians aiming to score media grabs and headlines at the expense of public servants.
In his valedictory speech on 19 February, Mr Griggs, who retired from the Australian Public Service at the end of last year, said Senate Estimates and other parliamentary committee hearings had gotten out of control in recent times.
The grandstanding, he suggested, is taking its toll on senior public servants required to front the committees and be grilled by senators and MPs.
His rebuke was particularly directed at estimates hearings where some senators adopt a combative approach to the bureaucrats appearing in the hope of a ‘gotcha’ moment or two they can exploit through the media.
“There is an enormous power imbalance when we appear before a parliamentary committee,” he said.
“Most parliamentarians understand this and respect it.
“Many acknowledge the performative side of estimates, in particular.
“But in the last few years, it has become increasingly personal, belittling and nasty.”
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Riotact.
