Gladstone Ports boss sacked over handling of disciplinary matter
Peter O’Sullivan axed due to handling of disciplinary matter, just weeks after an election scandal.
The head of Queensland government-owned Gladstone Ports has been sacked over his handling of a disciplinary matter just weeks after the port was involved in a scandal when a worker was suspended for questioning Bill Shorten during a campaign visit.
Chief executive Peter O’Sullivan, who has been suspended for six months, was sacked by the board today but the matter is not related to the incident during the campaign.
In a statement released today, the board said Craig Walker would continue in the role of acting chief executive until a permanent replacement is found.
“Following a thorough and extensive investigation of concerns raised last year about the conduct of Gladstone Ports Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer, the Board has made the decision to terminate Mr Peter O’Sullivan’s tenure as CEO and will immediately start a merit-based search for GPC’s new leader,” the statement said.
“Mr O’Sullivan was suspended on 13 December last year, on full pay, and has had no involvement with the day to day operations of the port since that time.
“The substantiated complaint related to Mr O’Sullivan’s role in a staff disciplinary matter.”
Mr O’Sullivan is a former Labor candidate for the seat of Gladstone.
It comes after the port was dragged into the election campaign after an engineer subcontractor said he was suspended after he publicly questioned Mr Shorten during a visit to the port about his plans to tax high income earners.
State Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington has asked the corruption watchdog to investigate the matter to determine whether the suspension was retribution from the Palaszczuk Government.
Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has said the government played no part in the engineer’s decision and that an investigation is being carried out by the treasury.
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