ICAC Operation Landan: Old emails from PwC consultant Amy Brown revealed

The one-time public servant sensationally sacked amid a job-for-mates fiasco has become embroiled in yet another hiring controversy, with dozens of emails and call logs made public.

Former public servant and PwC consultant Amy Brown appearing at the ICAC inquiry into School Infrastructure NSW (Operation Landan). Picture: Supplied

The one-time public servant sensationally sacked amid a job-for-mates fiasco has become embroiled in yet another hiring controversy, with dozens of emails and call logs made public amid questions over her dealings with the former CEO of School Infrastructure NSW.

Ex-bureaucrat Amy Brown is back in the spotlight over a contract that the Independent Commission Against Corruption has claimed was worth up to $20 million to her then-employer, the scandal-plagued ‘big four’ consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Ms Brown made headlines three years ago when she was terminated after controversially hiring former deputy premier John Barilaro to a cushy US trade job.

The ICAC did not identify any evidence of corrupt conduct in relation to the Barilaro matter.

Years earlier, she was awarded a School Infrastructure NSW procurement advisory contract in the same year she recommended Anthony Manning to head up the agency, an inquiry has heard.

Former public servant and PwC consultant Amy Brown appearing at the Independent Commission Against Corruption's inquiry into School Infrastructure NSW (Operation Landan) on Monday. Picture: ICAC

On Monday the public inquiry into allegations of corruption against Manning heard Ms Brown, then a NSW Treasury official, first met the school infrastructure boss in early 2013 when he was project director on a rebuild of the Northern Beaches Hospital.

Ms Brown testified she “would classify him as a business associate” and not as a friend.

She would later urge Manning to take the helm of the embryonic infrastructure agency, having “reviewed his CV” and acted as a “sounding board” prior to Manning’s appointment, the inquiry heard.

Then Chief Executive of Investment NSW Amy Brown gives evidence during the inquiry into the appointment of John Barilaro as Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas. Picture: Gaye Gerard / NCA Newswire

In an email to Manning in March 2017, Ms Brown, who had moved on to a consultancy job at PwC, said the NSW Department of Education “really” needed his skills.

“There are so many things that they need to get done but just don’t know how,” she wrote.

“Innovative procurement is beyond them … We just need to get sh*t done. Please help!”

In May, Manning forwarded Ms Brown an email confirming former premier Mike Baird – by then a senior executive the National Australia Bank – “would be willing to be a verbal referee for (Manning’s) job application”.

Ms Brown responded the follow morning, “Everything is falling into place……..”.

A timeline circulated to junior PwC staff in September 2017 – the same month the consultancy firm was hired, with Ms Brown as the lead partner, to advise School Infrastructure NSW on “innovative procurement” strategies – revealed Ms Brown had “suggested” Manning for the gig in a meeting with Education Minister Rob Stokes as early as February 2017.

The “diary” of PwC’s “pursuit” of School Infrastructure NSW also set out how from May 2016, Ms Brown “maintained ongoing contact with Anthony Manning … potential candidate for CEO position”.

A colleague had highlighted the mentions of Manning as “potentially contentious aspects” of the diary, with Ms Brown admitting she “authorised” the deletion of a line mentioning she had “met with Anthony in preparation for (his) CEO interview” in May, prior to it being circulated.

“My recollection is this document was going to some quite junior staff members … to give them a little lesson in business development, and I thought it was a little patronising to have said a prospective CEO needed help with a job interview,” Ms Brown told the inquiry.

The inquiry also heard how in late September, within two weeks of the request for tenders for the School Infrastructure advisory contract being posted by the NSW government, Ms Brown and Paxon Consulting director Michael Palassis were brought in to be interviewed.

Ms Brown was the only witness to take the stand during Monday’s extensive hearings, despite then-Secretary Mark Scott also being scheduled to give evidence. Picture: Supplied

Ms Brown said she involved Mr Palassis, whom she had also worked with on the Northern Beaches Hospital project, as a partner to make use of his expertise in public-private partnerships.

When the request for tenders went live on September 6 2017, Ms Brown emailed her wider team at PwC “the eagle has landed”.

Mobile phone logs between Ms Brown, Mr Manning and Mr Palassis were also tendered into evidence, showing Manning and the two consultants had exchanged 14 text messages and two phone calls between September 11 and September 16.

The remainder of Ms Brown’s evidence was given in private, with former Secretary of the NSW Department of Education Mark Scott to take the stand on Tuesday.

Originally published as ICAC Operation Landan: Old emails from PwC consultant Amy Brown revealed