Nicole Rose’s rise to top job at Austrac examined as agency accused of bungling case
An eight-month investigation has revealed the meteoric rise of a woman with limited police experience to the top of Australia’s financial crimes watchdog ahead of candidates with decades of law enforcement and legal experience.
National
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The CEO of Austrac, Nicole Rose, was parachuted into the job running the $75 million agency in a “unique” behind-the-scenes deal.
The appointment caused controversy because Ms Rose, a public service medallist, was originally the contact person for job candidates and sat on the selection panel interviewing the “preferred” candidates.
An investigation by News Corp into the selection process and Ms Rose’s background revealed highly-qualified candidates, some with decades of law enforcement and legal experience were denied even an interview.
Freedom of Information requests to the Attorney-General’s Department and Home Affairs discovered there were 22 candidates for the position. Eleven had law enforcement backgrounds including a Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner, and one was a judge.
Documents revealed Ms Rose was originally one of a four-person selection panel interviewing just seven applicants. Three of them were found highly suitable for the job after their interview.
But then Justice Minister, Michael Keenan, suddenly appointed Ms Rose as CEO as an “eminent person” in a back room deal.
FOI documents showed the government is aware of the sensitivity around the appointment, with a senior official discussing the “unique” process (because Nicole Rose was the contact person and the successful candidate) and how there was a “planned approach” to releasing information to the media.
With no written explanation as to why Ms Rose was suddenly given the job – the department wrote one – that the successful applicant had been no longer available. There was no written explanation why the other two candidates were not offered the job.
Mr Keenan when contacted by News Corp last week said he was “not interested” in commenting.
It was not the first time Mr Keenan parachuted Ms Rose into a federal law enforcement agency.
FOI documents revealed Mr Keenan appointed Ms Rose the CEO of the former CrimTrac (a former law enforcement agency liaising with and providing information to police) after stating he wanted to “directly appoint a person as the new head of CrimTrac, without conducting a full selection process” and asking police commissioners’ for their input.
At the time Ms Rose was the Director of the office of NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione.
Her meteoric rise as the head of CrimTrac and then CEO of Austrac, earning almost $500,000 a year stunned law enforcement circles, especially when a judge, barristers, police with decades of experience and a former Commissioner were also in the running for the job.
Mr Keenan announced her appointment saying she “contributed significantly to the planning and policy direction of high-profile operations including the 2005 Cronulla riots, the 2007 APEC conference and the 2008 World Youth Day.”
But senior police commanders who were involved in those operations said Ms Rose might have attended meetings, but played no day to day operational role.
But what raised even more surprise are the claims made by officials about her career.
The annual reports of CrimTrac and Austrac list Ms Rose as having “tertiary qualifications in business and management”.
But the CV provided by Ms Rose to News Corp shows no tertiary qualifications in Business or Management but a Diploma in Management from a Hotel School and a hotel internship before she became a protocol officer in the NSW Premier’s Department.
The Annual reports of CrimTrac and Austrac state Nicole Rose has tertiary qualifications in business and management.
Ms Rose then got a job providing high-level administrative and secretarial support at the Serious Offenders Review Council.
But her biography for an international conference stated she had “expertise” in offender management”.
Ms Rose joined the NSW Innocence Panel as a “senior policy and executive officer” from 2002 – 2004 according to her CV. But CrimTrac’s 2015-2016 annual report said she had been “instrumental in the establishment and operation of the panel.
The panel was set up and had its first meeting in 2001 before Ms Rose said she joined, and it was suspended in July, 2003 for insufficient checks and balances.
When appointed as CrimTrac CEO, Ms Rose was working for Mr Scipione and on secondment from NSW Police.
During that same year Ms Rose was sent on a 10-day leadership course, the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship in Ethical Leadership, which cost $24,500. It was paid for by NSW Police.
Ms Rose was at the helm of CrimTrac when it entered a $52 million contract for a biometric identification system replacing the existing fingerprint system and adding facial recognition capability.
The contract which threatened to blow out to $90 million was abandoned. A National Audit Office report into what went wrong revealed the project administration by CrimTrac and then the ACIC was “deficient in almost every significant respect” and failed to include “two important requirements … relating to assumed identities and witness security”.
An Austrac spokeswoman for Ms Rose, who has been awarded the public service medal for her contribution to law enforcement, said Ms Rose has had a distinguished career in Australia’s law enforcement, criminal justice and intelligence agencies.
Originally published as Nicole Rose’s rise to top job at Austrac examined as agency accused of bungling case