ANALYSIS: DIPL chief executive Andrew Kirkman’s threats and intimidation toward a female staff member in his department while attempting to blackmail her, has exposed some ugly realities about how the top brass of the NT Public Service operates, which needs to be cleaned up starting with Kirkman’s resignation.
While his disgusting and despicable conduct may come as no surprise to many who currently – and previously – work in the NT Public Service, Acting Judge John Neil’s findings have shed a long-awaited public spotlight on how departmental chief executives get away with lying, threatening and bullying their staff while their misconduct is covered up.
Aiding their misdeeds is a built-in protection racket, including ministers who look the other way, while ‘deputies’ and other highly-paid executives who are complicit in their bosses’ misconduct hide facts by ordering “independent” investigations that are anything but, in hopes they might be rewarded by grasping the top role one day.
Perhaps most disturbingly, the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment has grown accustom to rubber stamping internal reports filed by departmental underlings that ignore hard facts in an effort to clear powerful men of misconduct.
Kirkman certainly needs to resign over this, or be sacked, what isn’t as certain is what else needs to be done to fix the rot in the public service this case has exposed.
If you need any evidence of a pervasive culture of bullying and cover-up in the upper echelons of the NTPS, then look no further than the ease at which Kirkman resorted to blackmailing a female staffer when she questioned his decision.
Staffer Maria Rust took Kirkman to the Work Health Court over his conduct in a July 30, 2021 meeting, in which Kirkman repeatedly banged his tiny fists on the desk, yelled at her and implied her career would be “destroyed” if she filed a grievance about his decision to move her out of her office.
He immediately threatened her with exposing “the whole shit show” – in this case an unsubstantiated rumour – that Rust was having an affair with her immediate supervisor Christophe Grumelart, the then-executive director of capital program delivery in DIPL.
The first problem for Kirkman was that there was no illicit and steamy affair to expose, as the judge found, but that didn’t stop him from threatening to expose it anyway if Rust did not obey his ruling to move her out of the office.
The fact he resorted to that tactic straight off the bat is alarming and we can all draw our own conclusions over whether this was the first time Kirkman threatened to blackmail somebody. That he would go there with a female employee given the circumstances, shows he is not fit for the high position he currently holds.
While Judge Neil found that Kirkman acted in “an aggressive, threatening, dismissive, insensitive and inappropriate manner”, in his ruling, that also concluded that Kirkman had inflicted a mental health injury on Rust, the department and the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment dismissed it when presented with the same evidence.
Back in late 2021, the OCPE cleared Kirkman of the inappropriate conduct he has since been found to have engaged in by the courts.
“In relation to Mr Kirkman’s conduct toward Ms Rust specifically, I have accepted Mr Kirkman’s advice, and agree that he could have handled this meeting better in the circumstances,” then-public employment commissioner Vicki Telfer wrote in a letter dated December 1, 2021 to Rust’s lawyer.
“However, I find no evidence of behaviour that requires further attention.”
Telfer then proceeds to scold Rust for recording Kirkman during the meeting, suggesting she was “disappointed” she had done it “without his knowledge”.
“Such conduct erodes the trust and confidence between CEO and employee and is strongly discouraged in the NTPS,” Telfer wrote, without the slightest tinge of irony.
The only changes DIPL took in the wake of the whole scandal was to ban staffers from recording conversations within the department. Yes, how better to uphold “trust and confidence” between CEO and employee than to take away the only lever the employee has to prove misconduct?
It took a Local Court judge this week to see through the bullshit the NTPS has wallowed in for decades and expose some hard truths.
But more courageously, it took one public servant to stand up to the bullying and intimidation at great expense to herself, her family and her career to do the right thing and expose the culture in the NTPS. While Rust was found not to have been forthcoming with potential conflict of interest material, it did not affect the substantial win she had in the Work Health Court when the judge ruled, on the basis of evidence, that she had suffered a “major depressive order, severe, with anxious distress” caused by the meeting with Kirkman.
The truth of how NTPS executives conduct their business would never have been proven had Maria Rust not recorded the meeting with her chief executive that exposed him and the culture he personifies.
The facts of the case show Rust was a high performing public servant, a friendly and outgoing person who, after being given the Kirkman treatment, was rendered incapable of working in the department and unable to leave the house by herself at times.
The Lawler Labor Government’s handling of this to date, by referring Andy Kirkman back to the OCPE for review is ridiculous and redundant, and puts the current employment commissioner in a precarious position.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler said late last week that all chief executives need to be provided “procedural fairness” through the OCPE. The difference in this case is that Kirkman was provided an abundance of procedural fairness during the drawn-out court process by a judge who weighed his evidence and found it lacking credibility.
Judge Neil found Kirkman lied. He lied when he said he hadn’t made a decision about moving Rust out of the office that day despite referencing his decision 14 times in a 15-minute conversation, he lied when he claimed Rust had a pre-existing psychological condition, and he put up a couple of male staffers to lie on his behalf – including one guy who worked in the office “50 per cent” of the time – who said they believed there was a sexual relationship between Rust and Grumelart because they had studied the pair’s “body language”, which the judge found utterly lacking credibility.
That Lawler would put the Public Employment Commissioner in this current position is absurd.
Does she expect Nicole Hurwood will find that an experienced and respected NT judge erred in his ruling after hearing all the evidence and examining all of the sometimes uncomfortable and excruciating facts of this case?
There has always been a way out to protect chief executives. The problem this time is the facts have been proven in a real court, not a rigged political agency.
Christopher Walsh is the editor of the NT Independent and formerly held roles as senior political reporter at the NT News and investigations producer at ABC Darwin. He is also co-author of ‘Crocs in the Cabinet: An Instruction Manual on How Not to Run a Government’.
So let’s expose this ‘Shit Show’ but first get rid of Telfer and Kirkman.
Time to drain the very deep swamp that is the NTG.
The NTG mouthpiece, the NT News, staffed by dictated-to-by-government, 3rd rate, alleged journalists did a disgusting attack article about this matter! The article is “Department CEO Andrew Kirkman in ‘threatening’ dressing down of Maria Rust over rumoured affair” by world class Journalist Jason Walls.
It mentions the non existent affair 5 times including her name in the article title!
I think Territorians should take great note on how the NT News will attack anyone at the behest of a 3rd rate NTG Departmental CEO whose claim to fame is he went to the right high school!
Thank you NT News for following up the CEO’s promise to expose the whole shit show and damage the reputation of a defenceless staff member, whose only mistake was to work at a toxic Department of Planning and Infrastructure!
If you have a NT News subscription, cancel it!
If you work at Department of Planning and Infrastructure, find a non toxic work place!
Jason Walls did the exact same thing to NT Govt whistleblower Ferg Ferguson.
The way I see it, it’s not a surprise really because there are few if any consequences for Jason Walls. In fact he gets rewarded for his ‘journalism’ – he keeps his job, his masters are happy, the ones who stand up and fight are left with long lasting reputation damage, job done. Next!
The OCPE was already made aware and decided there wasn’t a problem. Why would referring it back to them again make a difference?
Labor’s protected puppet masters. Lawler really needs to take a good look at why department heads are contract positions. It’s not just so they can justify overpaying poor performance.
Some analysis needs to be done across the board in NTG in respect of members of staff on sick leave in certain departments. Blind Freddy would deduce that there are some real issues with certain managers, executive officers or OIC’s/ divisional Superintendents in regards to NTPol. Some units have 5 people on sick leave with mental health issues yet no one looks at the common denominator in these cases.
Trouble is the gene pool in the NT is a dried up puddle so the majority of those who get these roles are usually substandard, brown nosers, fishing buddies, school mates, squad mates or relatives.
Sigmund, you’ve answered your own analysis/problem with the NTPS, in your last sentence.
As a general comment, the NTPS is the way it is because powerful people want it to be that way – same as NT ICAC and the toothless tiger that is SA ICAC which the ABC reported has been gutted of all of its powers by all politicians working together for a change. They have the power to change it and the legislation underpinning it and yet they do nothing. They like it the way it is thankyou very much.
There seems to be this strange idea that people like Eva Lawler really want change and yet she is fighting some massive system of dysfunction and that’s why it is taking so long. This is wrong on so many levels. Don’t forget that Eva Lawler worked her way up through the NT Education Dept, she knows exactly how these places are run and why they are run like that. It suits those at the top of the tree to weed out the ones who are non-compliant, the ones who won’t look the other way, the ones who call out and challenge the mismanagement and the bullying.
Cardfightback blog has been reporting on this kind of stuff for more than 10 years, it’s not new.
The funny part of all this story is why NTG let it get into the court system in the first place. These stories are happening all throughout NTG and other Government Depts around the country every week. For the few that get far enough to start legal proceedings, these Depts will eventually settle them financially so they stay out of open and public court transcripts and decisions on the legal database called ‘austlii’ and other HR and Legal Firm websites which report on this stuff.
Here is a current example on how things could/should be done. It’s not difficult and it’s not controversial.
From a legal website in the UK:
(*Wes Streeting became the UK Government Health Secretary as Labour did win the UK election)
Wes Streeting has spoken of his desire to root out those who stifle the truth within the NHS by introducing “tough enforcement”.
Speaking to The Guardian, Mr Streeting – who could become Health Secretary on Thursday if Labour win the General Election – said this would form a key part of the party’s commitment to eradicate a culture of cover ups.
Three reviews on serious patient safety failings have already recommended the regulation of NHS senior managers, to allow them to be disbarred if they silence whistleblowers.
“I think the only way in which we genuinely protect whistleblowers and create a culture of honesty and openness is if you have tough enforcement,” said Mr Streeting.
“I’m deadly serious when I say NHS managers who silence whistleblowers will be out and will never work in the NHS again. It is the number one priority for the system. And I want people to have the confidence to speak out and come forward.”
The involvement of whistleblowers is critical in exposing bad practice and systemic failings within the NHS, although those involved frequently speak out about how they feel unable to do so and without adequate protection.
Recently, allegations from whistleblowers at the Royal Sussex County Hospital led to the launch of Operation Bramber, which is investigating claims of negligence within its surgery and is thought to involve over 100 cases including 40 deaths.
However, the two consultant surgeons who flagged up failings have since spoken of their concerns being “ignored and/or deliberately concealed” by bosses, and of attempts to silence them.
So Eva and Co all know this, the CLP all know this, the Greens know this, the person in the street knows this.
It’s not being implemented or talked about because they don’t want to change it.
We have to force them to have the conversation and demand action, otherwise tell them you’re going to vote them out of a job with all its perks and financial benefits.
If they won’t do it then we need to make them do it. Phone in on the radio. Turn up at their public meetings and continually ask them uncomfortable questions. Picket their offices, email them every day, phone them every day, hand out flyers outside their offices and anywhere else to let people know they’re doing nothing to change it. Take them to court more. Then hit repeat and do it all over again. Then hit repeat. Then hit repeat.
Don’t throw pies in their face, that’s just stupid and is a complete waste of time.
How did NTG react when the General Manager of HR in the NT Education Dept at the time, Mr Phil Brennan, set up a fake Facebook page to defame whistleblower Ferg Ferguson (formerly Stephen Ferguson) and after the NTNews published a front page exclusive of the principal of his school threatening to kill Ferguson?
After being forced to publish a lengthy apology to Mr Ferguson in the NTNews Phil Brennan lost his job in Education and walked down Mitchell Street in Darwin and got another high paying job in the NT Health Dept, where his wife worked.
That’s ‘tough enforcement’, NTG style.
*all of this is online if you want to check any of the truth of these comments.
Yes, Minister…
I previously worked for the NTPS and left because I couldn’t put up with the toxic environment any longer. It’s rampant and goes beyond the aggressive behaviour described here. I had a pretty happy and successful public service career until I was unfortunate enough to land in DCDD after the MOG in 2019. That department is horrendous to work for. They royally screwed up the centralisation of the corporate services.
Too many so-called ‘leaders’ who treat their staff poorly and are not competent enough to perform their roles but have their contracts extended because of who they know, or who they are married to. One of them spent his days watching golf videos, shopping online or asking his staff how to perform basic computer functions – should have been fired a long time ago but some NTPS executives are a protected species. Meanwhile competent, high-performing staff are burning out and leaving in droves. The area I worked for lost no less than 10 people in the space of 12-18 months but if you asked leadership they left for ‘better opportunities’. The reality is that so many of us left because we couldn’t put up with the circus ringleader any longer.
As the saying goes, the fish rots from the head and that is certainly the case for many areas of the NTPS. One can only hope that the rotting fish retire soon and that the up and coming leaders do not follow in their footsteps. I am so glad to no longer be there.