The ‘fungus bench’ that should outrage all NSW school parents

It was the thwarted attempt to import a “fungus bench” for Fort Street Public School that turned the latest public Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry from the sublime to the ridiculous this week.

The anti-corruption watchdog has spent the past seven weeks looking into two allegations that centre on Anthony Manning, the first chief executive of School Infrastructure NSW, a government agency established in 2017 to deliver and maintain public schools. Manning is facing two main allegations: that he subverted appropriate recruitment practices to benefit friends and business associates and that he improperly awarded contracts worth millions of dollars; and that he and others engaged in reprisal actions against staff who complained.

The ICAC is investigating a blow-out in spending on contractors under former building unit head Anthony Manning (front).Credit: SMH

Manning has spent seven days in the witness box in the public part of the hearing, including every weekday this week, and he is expected to appear again. He has been taken through his contract, emails and messages to offer his version of events and he has conceded that, in hindsight, he should have been more forthcoming about his friendships and declared potential conflicts of interest.

Key examples were highlighted early by counsel assisting Jamie Darams SC. Stuart Suthern-Brunt was a contractor and a cycling buddy engaged at $2800 a day whose companies received more than $1.7 million in work from School Infrastructure; breakfast club friend and buck’s party companion Martin Berry and his firm Heathwest Advisory had nine engagements worth more than $3 million; “communications fairy godmother” Kathy Jones was paid almost $9 million.

They are stunning sums, especially considering the Department of Education is not short of bureaucrats. The commission was shown an embarrassing text message in which Manning describes public servants as “oxygen thieves the lot of them”. On the stand, Manning dismissed it as “a conversation between mates”, calling it a “flippant remark”.

The inquiry has heard about beer and curry clubs, the mates who email Johnny Cash lyrics to each other before 170-kilometre bike rides, and Manning’s inquiry about buying jewellery for a friend’s daughter’s 21st birthday party. But it was the “fungus bench”, as commissioner Paul Lakatos SC described it, that took the cake.

The bench, which cost about $67,000, was made of mycelium and was meant to be placed at Fort Street Public School; it was blocked by Border Force, given a “destroy or return” designation and shipped back to the US. The consultant involved was paid $676,730 over four years to develop sustainable building materials to use in schools. Strange as it was, it was also a reminder of the purpose of School Infrastructure NSW: delivering buildings and facilities for children to be educated in.

Whatever the commission ultimately makes of the allegations, the public money being sloshed around for contractors, consultants and various advisers is outrageous at a time when there are public schools in need of improvement and parents are encouraged to chip in for whiteboard markers and glue sticks.

If this inquiry has proven nothing else, it has shown that more transparency over how money is spent on public schools is urgently needed in NSW.

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