Ten reasons principal selection process was ‘off the rails’ – CCC
The Queensland corruption watchdog has cleared former deputy premier Jackie Trad of any wrongdoing over the appointment of a principal for a new Brisbane school, but the CCC chair has slammed the entire process, highlighting these 10 major failures.
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THE Queensland corruption watchdog has cleared former deputy premier Jackie Trad of any wrongdoing over the appointment of a principal for a new Brisbane school, but the CCC chair has slammed the entire process, highlighting these 10 major failures.
The Crime and Corruption Commission released a 178-page report into how the selection process for the principal for the Inner City South State Secondary College went “off the rails” through the unethical behaviour of public servants, highlighting a whole host of failures in the process.
‘I’m a victim of a witch hunt’: Vindicated Trad responds
What not to do: The report every public servant needs to read
Corruption probe into Jackie Trad school issue began in December
Don’t write Jackie Trad off yet
WHAT WENT WRONG? TEN FAILURES IN THE PROCESS, ACCORDING TO THE CCC
- The selection panel, if unconvinced by the quality of the applicant pool or the level at which they were about to appoint, could simply have halted the process.
- They could have advised the department that they felt unable to appoint a candidate... and requested further exploration of the possibility of readvertising for an Executive Principal.
- The selection report was signed, and no reservations expressed orally or in writing by any panel member were contained within it.
- The Vice-Chancellor... could have stated that he felt unable to sign off on the
appointment. Having signed off, he could have accepted the candidate and supported and mentored her, as he had said he would. Instead, he chose to express his dissatisfaction.
- The Panel Chair did not act on the concerns of the panel as she should have – by halting the process, thanking the candidates for their time and ending the process gracefully.
- She failed to tell the other selection panel members that there was a suggestion to meet with the Deputy Premier.
- When asked by the Panel Chair how to proceed, the Deputy Director General (DDG) could have advised her to halt the process... instead his recommendation was to have her “interviewed” (his term) by a politician.
- The Principal Adviser and others could have advised the DDG not to pursue a flawed process and an inappropriate course of action, but instead she chose to facilitate it.
- The Director General could have instructed them not to pursue the idea of a meeting with the Deputy Premier.
- The Deputy Premier herself should have declined the meeting once she understood the (department) had not advised Tracey Cook that she had been approved to be appointed.