West Tamar Council: leaked report probes recruitment issues, bullying, sexual harassment

A Tasmanian council is refusing to release a full report on its workplace culture, after a review found bullying was rife, sexual harassment had become an issue and its recruitment processes were called into question.

Four employees working for a northern Tasmanian council were known to someone in a management role before they were hired and did not have their positions formally advertised – but a confidential review has found no evidence to suggest “nepotism or cronyism”.

The West Tamar Council is refusing to release the full report delving into its recruitment practices and workplace culture, instead opting to publish an executive summary of its findings.

Advisory firm COHORTE conducted the review and a summary was quietly released on the council’s website on Friday afternoon but the Mercury has obtained snippets of the full document.

They show that “certain personnel in management positions” appeared to have a “significant destabilising effect on the workplace culture at West Tamar Council” and that “trust and confidence in management and some members of council has been eroded to varying degrees”.

West Tamar councillor Jess Greene said while she was glad a summary had been released, it “misses the mark when it comes to transparency”.

West Tamar councillor Jess Greene. Picture: SUPPLIED

“Our community deserves better and our staff deserve acknowledgment about what has occurred,” she said.

Another councillor, Peter Kearney, who is running for mayor, urged the council to “come clean”.

“The leadership position would be to explain to staff, ‘We have to put this out in public so that everybody knows what’s going on and we can get on with solving the problem’,” he said.

The review probed the recruitment of six particular employees of the council – hired between 2018 and 2021 – finding that four of them were appointed without a “formal advertising or recruitment process” and five were “known to someone in a management position” at the council at the time they were hired.

Despite these conclusions, the review did not uncover any evidence of a “breach … of any legal obligations” or “nepotism or cronyism”.

There was no evidence of “any close personal relationships … or business relationships that would give rise to an actual or perceived conflict of interest” but the review noted that there was no formal recruitment policy in place at the council.

An anonymous survey of 84 council staff was also undertaken as part of the review, finding that a third of respondents had been bullied in the workplace, 14 per cent had experienced discrimination and 11 per cent had experienced sexual harassment.

Forms of sexual harassment reported included unwanted touching, leering, and “requests for dates and sex”.

West Tamar Mayor Christina Holmdahl. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

West Tamar Mayor Christina Holmdahl said the council would not be releasing the full report because staff had been assured it would “remain confidential”.

“Their health and wellbeing is our first concern,” she said.

Ms Holmdahl said any case of improper behaviour was “one too many”.

“We will be implementing all of the recommendations to ensure that it doesn’t happen in our workplace because it’s not acceptable,” she said.

The report made nine recommendations, all of which the council has committed to implementing.

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