The most senior executives in the NT public service will be attending an “executive ethics program” that has been billed as teaching the “capacity for moral courage” organised through the Department of Chief Minister and Cabinet at taxpayer expense.

According to government tenders, Monash University was awarded the contract to provide the “executive ethics program for NTPS senior executive leaders” at a cost of $30,000.

The tender was awarded to Monash through a select process, rather than through a public competitive process.

Newly appointed head public servant Frank Daly did not respond to questions Friday, including if there was a particular incident that sparked the new training program.

Last year, Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade chief executive Shaun Drabsch was found by the ICAC to have engaged in “deceptive” conduct involving the $12 million Darwin Turf Club grandstand grant, however then-chief minister Michael Gunner did not sack Mr Drabsch and instead put him in charge of enacting recommended reforms related to grant policies in the department.

Mr Gunner said in July 2021 Mr Drabsch’s “deceptive” conduct had occurred two years earlier so only required a “formal warning” instead of being sacked.

Mr Drabsch would not say on Friday if he would be attending the new executive ethics program or what he was hoping to get out of it if he were to attend.

Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics chief executive Andrew Kirkman, who without explanation changed his testimony at this years’ Budget Estimates hearings about his knowledge of an ICAC investigation into the Katherine DIPL office after first denying it, also refused to answer questions about the new ethics program and if he would be attending.

Mr Daly, who was appointed as chief executive of the Department of Chief Minister and Cabinet following the resignation of Jody Ryan, would not say why the department was providing this training now.

According to information on Monash University’s executive ethics program website, the program aims to teach the “capacity for moral courage”, how to strengthen capacity to “make ethical judgments in unforeseen and challenging situations” and how to identify “cognitive bias, ethical fading, moral disengagement and groupthink”.

The Office of the ICAC and the Auditor General have repeatedly raised ethical issues in the public service, especially around conflicts of interest, procurement processes and other matters. Former ICAC Ken Fleming had raised what he called “systemic conduct” in the public service that had been ongoing for years.