The Department of Planning and Environment has accepted all the recommendations of an independent investigation into allegations relating to its workplace culture and human resources processes.
The review was conducted by former Commonwealth Government Deputy Public Service Commissioner, Carmel McGregor (pictured), who was appointed in January as the Department’s Independent Integrity Adviser.
The Department’s new Secretary, Jim Betts, said he had accepted all Ms McGregor’s recommendations, most of which had already been implemented, with the remainder on track for delivery this year.
“I want to thank Ms McGregor for prioritising this independent review of our work practices in light of allegations made last year about people being afraid to raise concerns about failure of processes, potential misconduct or fraud,” Mr Betts said.
“Carmel’s report highlights the efforts under way to set high standards of ethical behaviour and goodwill in the relevant teams.”
He said recommendations against which work was already under way or complete included providing greater clarity on the roles and responsibilities of Governance, Legal and HR teams; centralising ethics and complaints management; and reviewing roles and responsibilities in the Department’s HR operating model.
He said other activities included providing staff with a more robust on-boarding process; closer collaboration between HR and ethics staff; lifting the pause on recruitment at the Department; and reviewing HR delegations to ensure clear, consistent and equitable treatment of staff who might need to be terminated.
Mr Betts said a full-time onsite HR and Work Health and Safety team at the Department’s Maitland office had been in place since December 2018.
He said the review marked a firm reset on issues raised last year and provided a clear roadmap to help re-define what a successful Government Department looked like.
Ms McGregor’s appointment followed a number of media articles in December 2018 alleging wrongdoing and poor workplace culture within the Department made by former employees.
Her 21-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
