A CLP-run parliamentary committee that ended a public hearing 45 minutes early and did not request documented evidence from Darwin Waterfront Corporation officials to back up its claims has cleared the organisation of wrongdoing, with the chair of the corporation claiming he was getting too “worked up” to continue discussing the issues involving the use of public funds for extended higher duties allowances and executive contracts awarded to the Chief Minister’s husband.
The matter involving Waterfront deputy chief executive Sam Burke’s taxpayer-funded salary was referred to the Public Accounts Committee by Labor Leader Selena Uibo last month, after she raised the issue in Parliament and sought an explanation around “serious allegations involving significant sums of public money”.
The CLP Finocchiaro Government later agreed to hold the public hearing under narrow terms of reference that failed to focus on all of the issues raised in the NT Independent’s special investigation series into governance issues at the corporation.
The committee was originally to hear from the DWC, the AustralAsia Railway Corporation, the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment and the Department of Chief Minister, but chose instead to only hear from the DWC at the hearing on Tuesday afternoon. The other bodies submitted letters.
Chief executive Alastair Shields and Waterfront board chair Patrick Bellot fronted the committee for a little over an hour, in which they claimed the reported $400,000 in higher duties allowance Mr Burke received was actually only $42,411 over two years, but provided no payroll evidence to back that up and did not claim that when first contacted by the NT Independent with questions on April 15.
The committee heard that Mr Burke was first awarded higher duties for a part-time role at the former Department of Trade, Business and Innovation and later for his role as chief executive for the AustralAsia Railway Corporation, co-funded with money from the South Australia Government.
The DWC claimed the DTBI job was not “made up” and that Mr Burke was mentioned as holding the part-time role in the 2017-18 DTBU annual report. It was revealed the position was created by former DWC board member Anne Tan, who personally selected Mr Burke for the part-time role as “executive director major projects” while she worked at DTBI.
However, an internal memo reported by this masthead previously showed that Mr Shields had claimed he arranged for Mr Burke to work with DTBI after a discussion with his friend and then-CEO Michael Tennant.
Mr Shields said Mr Burke’s higher duties were suspended before reaching the six month period because if they continued past six months, the role would have to be advertised and filled through a recruitment process. The higher duties were then routinely restarted the following day for another six month period.
The committee appeared to accept that this was a common occurrence in the public service to keep people on higher duties rather than publicly advertise the role.
“They [DTBI] offered Mr Burke a further opportunity of a new period of HDA for six months…so both periods of HDA did not exceed six months,” Mr Shields said.
The NT Independent previously reported that the higher duties for Mr Burke continued for six years from 2018, for two different roles, but Mr Shields said that was not accurate and that Mr Burke only received the $42,000 in higher duties for two years, before Mr Shields unilaterally determined Mr Burke was “exemplary” in his role at the Waterfront and gave him a new contract in April 2020, that saw his pay level increase permanently from ECO1 to ECO2.
That appeared to have been done to stop the higher duties allowance while making them permanent and embedded in his contract.
He did not specifically explain how he was able to do that without having Mr Burke’s role independently assessed before offering him the new contract, other than to imply that the Waterfront Corporation was not beholden to the Public Sector Employment and Management Act (PSEMA), but would adhere to it in other circumstances.
He added that Mr Burke did not have to apply for the role of chief executive of the AustralAsia Railway Corporation because it was a statutory role, as was his Waterfront role, that was initially advertised in 2015.
“So what the Darwin Waterfront Corporation did when Mr Burke took on that additional statutory role [with AARC], in addition to his previously advertised and applied-for role, was create a sort of hybrid position, which was at an ECO2 level, but there was no requirement to advertise, no requirement to go through the job evaluation system because of that statutory nature of the CEO’s role,” Mr Shields told the committee.
Bumping Mr Burke to ECO2 essentially ended the higher duties allowance, Mr Shields said.
Mr Shields and Mr Bellot did not provide any payroll evidence to back up the claim that the higher duties ended when Mr Burke signed a new contract in April 2020 and did not provide any evidence about that contract.
In an unusual circumstance, a document called “summary of employment arrangements” showed Mr Burke had his ECO1 contract initially renewed in February 2020, but was then inexplicably awarded the ECO2 contract two months later in April 2020.
None of the public account committee members asked about that situation.
The NT Independent previously reported that Mr Burke’s contract was renewed in late 2023 without being independently assessed, six months before it was due to expire.
Mr Shields said he was contacted in November 2023 by “somebody who worked in the office of the Chief Executive of the Department of Chief Minister and Cabinet, [who] sent me an email to remind me of the obligation to have a discussion with Mr Burke about the renewal of this contract”.
Nobody asked who that person was or why “somebody” in DCM&C would be reminding him to sign a contract for Mr Burke.
Mr Shields added if he did not engage with Mr Burke about renewing his contract within six months, he could be in breach of contractual obligations.
Independent MLA Justine Davis asked how he arrived at the decision to renew the contract.
“I concluded that he had been an exemplary member of staff and that he would be an ideal candidate for a renewal at the same levels for a further period of four years,” he said.
Ms Davis later asked how Mr Burke was promoted to the ECO2 level, “given that it doesn’t sound like there’s any formal evaluation process which would be normal public sector process”.
Mr Shields then shifted the discussion to other matters and raised previous contracts without answering the question.
Waterfront documents not to be made public, running two corps with taxpayer funds not an issue: Shields
Asked if an internal management review of the Waterfront Corporation would be made public, Mr Shields indicated that was unlikely. The review was undertaken by former board member Andrew Kirkman’s wife Susan Kirkman, who was hired for an unadvertised “temporary” role last October to also manage the corporation’s finances on an undisclosed salary.
Mr Shields also refused to disclose the DWC’s conflicts of interest register and the minutes of its board meetings, but said the conflict of interest involving Ms Kirkman was managed appropriately.
He added those materials are “subject to review as part of the annual audit” undertaken by the Auditor General.
Mr Shields also said he declared a standing conflict of interest with the DWC that he is also the chair of AustralAsia Railway Corporation, but that it “doesn’t actually arise as a conflict at most meetings because it’s been very rare”.
He then proceeded to disclose that the DWC and AARC, which is jointly funded by the SA Government, has a “cost-sharing agreement” that sees money exchanged between the corporations to pay for things such as Sam Burke’s role with AARC.
He claimed moving the money between the taxpayer-funded corporations was a “technical, financial, accounting thing”, adding it was “subject to audit” and a “very routine matter” that happens with “government partners all the time”.
“And that is reflected in the annual reports?” Ms Davis asked.
Ms Shields did not provide a clear answer.
“As I mentioned before, one of the things I think this inquiry has probably done for us is, is to say that we might [need] to explain that a little better…” he said.
Mr Shields said it was not unusual that he would be involved in senior roles with both corporations and pointed to his old friend and former head public servant Paul Tyrrell as also having been in both roles at the same time.
He also disclosed that former high-ranking public servant Andrew Kirkman is still a board member with the AARC despite resigning from the NT public service last month.
Mr Bellot said in his opening remarks that the governance issues raised at the Waterfront had caused “harm” to the DWC executives and staff, who had “endured distress” over recent months.
He added that he personally views conflicts of interest as “very strict, seriously complex” and that he has “zero tolerance for any sort of potential commercial conflicts”. He also said he had “been quite distracted” since being appointed to the role by the CLP Government in December to think about what could be done to improve transparency at the corporation.
In his closing remarks, Mr Bellot, who is married to Mix 104.9 presenter Katie Woolf, said he did not wish to make any further comments because “I’m gonna get worked up so I’ll leave it at that.”
The DWC accused the NT Independent of “a persistent lack of rigour and due diligence” in its previous reporting on the matter, but Mr Shields did not explain why he and Mr Burke did not respond to questions before the article about Mr Burke’s taxpayer-funded roles ran and again offered no hard evidence to back up their claims.
Committee says ‘unanimous’ decision that allegations are unsubstantiated
The committee, chaired by CLP backbencher Clinton Howe, released a statement Tuesday evening on its website claiming that it had “unanimously decided that none of the allegations as set out [in the terms of reference] are substantiated”.
Attorney-General and Tourism Minister Marie-Clare Boothby appeared to pre-empt the committee’s findings before the hearing occurred yesterday morning, stating that “today, when we hear from the Waterfront Corporation, we’re going to put these claims to bed”.
She issued a statement last night demanding Ms Uibo apologise for hurting the feelings of those accused of misconduct.
“Ms Uibo owes Territorians an apology,” she said. “She owes public servants an apology. And I am calling on her to make it – publicly and without delay.”
She later declared the matter closed, but has failed to release an internal briefing prepared for her by the DWC and the Department of Chief Minister & Cabinet into the previous issues of mismanaged conflicts of interest at the corporation, involving Mr Shields, Mr Kirkman and others that was completed before the revelations of Mr Burke’s higher duties allowance and executive contracts.
Ms Davis said in a statement that the “inquiry’s focus was strictly limited to four specific allegations” that had restricted the scope of the inquiry by being so narrow.
“While I am unable to comment further at this time, I remain firmly committed to addressing issues of transparency and accountability in our public sector,” she said, adding that the public should “carefully” review the submissions to the committee, as well as the PAC report which will be forthcoming.
Ms Uibo said in a statement that she holds the “NT public service in the highest regard” and that Ms Boothby could have released her briefing and by not doing so created “further doubt and uncertainty about the matter”.
“I would not be doing my job as Opposition Leader if I didn’t raise questions on behalf of Territorians,” she said.
‘unsubstantiated’ does not mean ‘disproven’ – particularly absent relevant evidence.
Apparently Tasmania’s Premier has been delivered a vote of no confidence motion?
Territorians can now say “ They have no confidence in ALP or CLP governance
2024-25 NTG CLP A-G Marie-Clare Boothy is the liar who should apologise to Territorians for holding a legal position as an unqualified shill for CLP CM Lia Finnochiaro as the DWC CEO Alastair Shields & Chair Patrick Bellot orchestrated a pretend DWC Corruption Enquiry where no evidence was submitted and a complex web of misleading, rambling information used up time.
What became clear is the 2016-21 NTG ALP CM Michael Gunner, DCM CEO Jodie Ryan, her evil twin Andrew Kirkman, were in the middle of these dodgy agreements. Legacy media including Mix 104.9 Radio, NT News, Channel 9 & Darwin ABC manipulated community sentiment as they buried public service abuse of power for self-interest. Listening to Mix 104.9 to-day demonstrated the truth continues to be buried with conflicts of interest. Waterfront Toga residents continue to be extorted whilst investment plummets.
Territorians are apathetic sheep!!!
Oh what a tangled web we weave. When first we practice to deceive. A paltry thing, and full of care, Upon our backs to bind a load, Were it not easier, to go bare. Than thus to feel the galled goad? AND THAT IN FACT indeed, is why we territorians sought; now denied . . . TRANSPARENCY / ACCOUNTABILITY? We do feel bitter and yes, that is the ‘stick’ that prods each and every citizen in middle of every ‘back’. “DENIED”!
What a tangled web we weave !!! The hits still keep coming!!
Is the Michael Tennent referred to by Mr Shields the same Michael Tennent who is a partner in another ABN registered business consultancy with Ms Sybille Brautigan the former Deputy CEO of DTBI reporting to Michael Tennent as the CEO of DTBI. ?
Was and is Ms Brautigan Mr Shields partner?
Did the NT Government recently settle a general protections dispute before the Federal Circuit Court arising from the inappropriate conduct of then CEO Andrew Kirkman towards a junior female staff member Ms Maria Rust. If so how much was paid in
1 settlement and legal fees for Ms Rust?
2 Legal fees defending Mr Kirkman on behalf of the NT Government ?
Who authorised and approved the settlement arrangements for the NT Government?
Exactly how many settlements relating to Mr Kirkman’s conduct towards DIPL staff have been made by the NT Government?
What are the total costs paid or incurred by the NT Government in employment cases involving Mr Kirkman?
What other NT Government related employment does Mr Kirkman still hold?
@Jobsworth: let us illuminate you on some of your questions:
From this Government Lawyer of the Year Award 2007: https://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/BalJlNTLawSoc/2007/92.pdf
His main role has been with major projects, with the biggest ones being the $1.3bn Australasia Railway Project and $2.4bn Waterfront Project.
Alastair recently married the lovely Sybille (Sybille Brautigam). That has not affected his passion for collection of objects d’art (she is also a collector) and it remains a source of disappointment when he chooses to wear something dull or ordinary
~Did Alastair say in the PAC hearing that he wasn’t involved in DWC or Australasia Corp before 2016?
~So yes, his wife was the Deputy CEO of the Dept run by Michael Tennent and in business with him it seems too.
~No conflicts of interest people.
~There are heaps of backhanders for mates, extra HDAs that stay under the radar of 6 months, more and more Boards memberships and Committee memberships for me and my family and my mates’ wives and their families F**K YEAH but no conflicts of interest because I thought about it myself and declared it so.
~So says CLP MLA Brian O’ Gallagher.
Why does this charade not surprise me?
Why do the CLP and ALP cry out for transparency, then turn it around and attempt to cover up the truth?
So sad…looks like clown town antics continue unabated.
It won’t be long before the Feds abolish self-government in the NT.
Did the ‘new’ Government not understand that CRIME at all levels was the issue? Not just on the streets. Time to throw your corrupt partners under the bus, NOW.
How can you expect to reduce crime at the bottom when it is RAMPANT at the top.
Their are A03 and A04’s who have to engage legal practitioners and engage robustly with NTG to get paid their Higher Duties or correct pay!
If your the son of a former “aloof” CM or a husband of a politician, you don’t need to do that!
If your not one of those, please double check every single pay you get from NTG.
There…you’re. You need some grammar lessons.
Dont worry bout me granma! Check your NTG pay packet weekly….!!
Theirs ques of nurses, plain vanilla administration officers, and NTG Public Servants who work on shifts , screaming for their pay entitlements……
I felt it was like watching and hearing the proceedings of a failed thespian play and the proceedings were shallow underwhelming and cursory and no wonder the Northern Territory is a failed jurisdiction with no credibility.
CLP-led committee clears Waterfront corporation after short hearing.
No-one needed to dig out their crystal balls to know that that was going to be the headline.
It’s really difficult to know where to start with this pantomime show.
Firstly: the whole discussion about this term “operational conflicts of interest” and ‘this term cost sharing’ and the term ‘job sharing’ is a total red herring.
We’re not talking about basic job sharing arrangements. We’re talking about how you and Andrew Shirkman engineered everything for him and used your mates to push through inflated wages for him, skirting around employment restrictions in order to do so.
And we bet you’ve been getting away with this kind of sleight of hand tricks for many million dollar Super accounts years.
“Operational conflicts of interest” was being subtly substituted for the real conflict of interest everyone else wants to know about,
ie how the f**k do you Alastair Shields From The Public get to pick and choose your mates onto Boards you and your mates control and operate and then recommend increased payments and high level contracts to them all in the background?
The answer is that you’ve been handed too much power and influence and far too many Board and Committee appointments by friendly enabling ministers and heads of Depts.
And those Quid Pro Quo agreements are paid back in kind by employing and recommending those same people and their wives or siblings or extended family members for more and more money.
Those HDAs were paid in under 6 month increments in order to get around public service restrictions. You may have thought you explained them all away with fuzzy old man tales of retirement and COVID constraints but not to us. That was done for a reason, to assist Sam Burke to get more money and to keep external eyes from needing to look around at what’s going on in those 2 places of work.
You know exactly what you’re doing and as you said yourself, “this stuff has been going on for a long time”.
Some general points to consider:
The whole hearing lasted one hour and 13 minutes.
Within that, Labor asked 4 questions, CLP asked 5 questions and the CLP chair asked 3 questions.
Justine Davis asked 12 or 13 questions.
The questioners took up approx 4-5 minutes in total asking their actual questions, this is minus the waffle around some of them.
The only person who tried to complain about cutting the hearing short by almost half the allotted time was Justine Davis.
Neither the CLP nor the ALP cared, which again shows us all that they both love the current set up/status quo. They wouldn’t change a thing, except maybe to not even have a hearing in the first place.
From the answers, these things stood out to us:
Conflict of Interest register is not available to the public.
DWC Board meeting minutes not available to the public, in fact it was claimed by Alastair Shields From The Public that it is not appropriate for them to be so, ever.
A Conflict of Interest plan was developed by not shared.
An internal audit at the DWC was done, when asked to release it to the public, Alastair Shields From The Public sat stunned for 5 seconds in glorious silence then waffled on about something else then stated “he’d never thought about making it public before and doesn’t see why the public would be interested in such a thing.”
Alastair Shields From The Public also had a lovely trick to use up more time, by stating the following after every question asked of him: “Thank you for your question member for [insert here], emmmmm…” and then oftentimes repeating the question.
Manuel Brown Labor MLA stated that “there is a current independent investigation underway into hiring practices within that corporation.”
News to us. If everything is fine then why is this investigation happening?
Why don’t you publish how many Boards and Committees the following have been on for the last 15 years or are currently on:
Alastair Shields From The Public & wife
Greg Shamahan & wife Racheal
Andrew Kirkman & wife
Jodie Ryan
Samuel Burke
Justine Davis: “What are you doing to reassure the public that they don’t need to be worried about these kinds of things/(conflicts of interest)?”
Patrick Bellend: “Nothing, effectively abidance of the various standards.”
“Friendships are declared and dealt with appropriately” was a common comment but they don’t seem to understand that it is being considered by the same people as you have the conflict with, you morons.
Case in point:
CLP Brian O’Gallagher: “I’ve worked with Alastair Shields From The Public on a number of major projects, including the railway project and the Inpex project, probably 10 or 20 years ago, I’ll just declare that, I certainly don’t believe it’s a conflict of interest in my assessment of this….we’re all into that at the moment.”
Alastair Shields From The Public: “I acknowledge our time working together on the railway project and other projects as well.”
That should have been enough to have him recuse himself from this committee, but he thinks that just because he says it out loud then follows that with “I don’t believe that’s a conflict of interest” shows that he has no idea what a conflict of interest looks or smells like.
And he’s on a Parliamentary Committee to discuss conflicts of interest.
Still think The Game is not rigged?
Watch this little slip up from Alastair Shields From The Public and attempt to cover his ass later:
First, the Act says the ministers have to recommend lovely hard working shadowing people for free not being overpaid at all employee of the year Sam Burke’s appointment.
Second, having recalled a whole War and Peace selection of people’s retirement plans, HDA allowance dates, parts of Acts etc he suddenly can’t recall if the ministers were actually aware of any of this.
Third, realising he might be in the shit and recommending jobs for mates that haven’t actually gone through the legal ministerial requirement first, then goes on to say at the end that “both ministers nominated him”, got his memory back there at the end. Great catch Alastair Shields From The Public! Not.
41m: Alastair Shields From The Public: “Ultimately Mr Burke was appointed properly as CEO under the Australasia Railway Corporation Act which required both the NT and SA ministers to recommend the appointment and it was approved by the Board (I was on) and I executed the instrument.”
42m: CLP Brian O’Gallagher: “….tell me, was the relevant minister aware of these or do you know, or were they involved in these discussions or approvals, I’m not too sure I’m just asking.”
“It is a number of years ago minister for Karama so I can’t recall if the ministers were actually consulted but I do know that the CEO of the Dept that had responsibility overall for AARC Infrastructure Dept was well aware of the arrangement….”
CLP Brian O’Gallagher: “So there is some sort of oversight.”
Alastair Shields From The Public: “Yes”
1:08m: Alastair Shields From The Public “he/Sam Burke acted for a while then the Board was obviously happy with his performance, BOTH GOVERNMENTS NOMINATED HIM, he was appointed through that statutory process.”
A last very interesting quote from Alastair Shields From The Public: on the discussion about job sharing, which wasn’t in issue really:
“Entirely routine matter, I received an email from someone who worked in the office of the CE of the CM and Cabinet, they sent me an email to remind me of the obligation to have a discussion with Mr Burke about the renewal of his contract and to advise when that occurred. I think within a day or so of that Mr Burke and I sat down in accordance with the contract 6 months out and before the expiry to have a discussion…..”
Who emailed you and why did they do that? Are they job sharing in Payroll?
We wouldn’t call this a whitewash.
More like a shitewash.
If they think this going to go away,they are sadly mistaken.
Both Bellott and Boothby have their ambitions mixed up with their abilities.
Both have accepted positions given to them by friends without merit.
Both have stupidly accepted that with these positions comes a poison pill they will both have to swallow.
Like Alf fell on his sword for his friend Saint Michael’s sins a few years back they will swallow their poison pills for their saints.
We live in a Northern Territory that does not care! We focus upon CLP /ALP administrative failures. When in fact ‘real world’ failures are both a priority and the reality threatening every Territorian / Australian? Our dilemma? Two failed Political Parties who have merged self interest(s). They are both proven failures. But that they remain a primary source of leadership confirms our Electorate has yet to awaken or, simply failed to act? A third National Entity, on the face of it, has abandoned all Northern Australian citizens. Even though . . . our Nation has need of a total reliance upon a Northern workforce? YOU CANNOT FIGHT A WAR if leadership corrupt! Certainly, that is a hurdle too high to ‘clear’. Territory Governance, both CLP / ALP HAVE BOTH CHOSEN TO PROTECT SELF INTEREST? Every territorian knows this to be so.
There should have been much more discussion of the N-word: NEPOTISM
Nepotism is the practice of favoring relatives or close friends in hiring or promotions, often without regard to their qualifications. It typically occurs in workplaces and politics, leading to unfair advantages for those connected by family and friendly ties.
This whole misdirection on “operational conflicts of interest” deftly inserted by Alastair Shields From The Public was a red herring.
This whole NT Government Clown Show is all about NEPOTISM – it’s mates in high places that gets you all the big bucks.
Merit Selection is a lie.
Internal Anything is not independent, never was never will be.
“I’m gonna get worked up so I’ll leave it at that.” Should not be in this job, obviously cannot handle it.