TasNetworks staff survey unearths reports of alleged sexual assault, assault and bullying

Disturbing allegations of sexual assault and bullying in the workplace have been uncovered by a TasNetworks staff survey, with the CEO conceding “our people are suffering”.

TasNetworks CEO Dr Sean Mc Goldrick. Picture: Supplied

A TasNetworks staff survey has unearthed allegations of sexual assault and bullying in the workplace, prompting a frank concession from the CEO that “our people are suffering”.

A Legislative Council committee heard the explosive details in a government business scrutiny hearing on Thursday, where Energy Minister Nick Duigan admitted he had not been briefed on the disturbing results.

The government-owned electricity transmission and distribution network operator said they had engaged a consultant to undertake a confidential psychosocial risk survey of the 1100 TasNetworks staff earlier this year, as well as run a series of focus groups and workshops.

TasNetworks CEO Seán Mc Goldrick said the company received the results of the survey – which generated about 2000 comments from staff – on October 30 and that some of them “indicated the presence of psychosocial hazards that are of a very high level of concern”.

TasNetworks CEO Sean Mc Goldrick and executive finance and regulation Michael Westenberg at a government business scrutiny committee hearing. Picture: Supplied

He said these included reports of alleged assault, sexual assault, and bullying.

“The report indicated … the majority of [our] people were in a reasonably good space. Some people were not travelling at all well,” he said.

Dr Mc Goldrick said the TasNetworks executive and board were committed to developing an “evidence-informed” workplace mental health and wellbeing action plan and the company’s response to the survey would be “an area of significant focus for the business over the coming months”.

“I took some time to reflect on what I heard. It’s not so much the power of the statistics but the power of the comments that were in the survey [that] really struck me,” he said.

“At stages I was thinking, ‘Is this really the workplace that I’m in charge of here and what is happening? Why is this happening?’ You’re in a bit of shock, first of all, and then you go, ‘Right, what can we do about it?’”

Nick Duigan MLC. Picture: Chris Kidd

Dr Mc Goldrick told the committee that “our people are suffering and they’re not even comfortable enough to report to us so we can formally take action”.

“So that’s our challenge, to change that,” he said.

TasNetworks executive finance and regulation Michael Westenberg said some of the reports made through the survey may have related to “direct interactions with customers”.

Pembroke Labor MLC Luke Edmunds said the results of the survey were “really serious stuff”.

“It’s really concerning to hear that [TasNetworks is] getting reports of assault, bullying, sexual assault, and for you to actually use the sentence, ‘Our people are suffering’, I really appreciate the comment but it’s very alarming for me as a parliamentarian,” Mr Edmunds said to Dr Mc Goldrick.

Luke Edmunds MLC. Picture: Chris Kidd

Mr Duigan, who was sworn in as Energy Minister on October 3, said he had not been briefed on the survey results by TasNetworks and was hearing about them for the first time during the hearing.

When asked by independent Murchison MLC Ruth Forrest whether he would expect the board to report such a matter to him, he replied: “[I’d] expect that, I think, yes”.

“I, as you would expect, as shareholder minister, have very frequent contact with the senior management and this will be obviously an area of interest for me and my other shareholder minister, the Treasurer, to keep on top of,” he said.

“But what I would say is, I have confidence in the board.”