A former Canberra Institute of Technology teacher has called for a broader examination of bullying and harassment at the education provider, saying its management should be investigated ''from the top down''.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Julie Knight, who taught at the CIT's centre of tourism and hotel management, says a WorkSafe ACT investigation of bullying and harassment at the CIT should have included the institute's human resources department and individual complaints by staff.
In a scathing report, published this week, Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe found the CIT's systems for addressing bullying and harassment complaints were so poor they effectively protected bullies and left staff afraid to speak out. An improvement notice has been issued requiring the CIT to make changes to its processes and ACT Education Minister Chris Bourke has demanded weekly updates on the institute's progress.
Mrs Knight, who first took stress leave due to bullying in 2009 and is now medically retired, has welcomed the report's findings.
But she and her husband, Bob, believe the investigation should have looked beyond the three work sites where seven serious cases of bullying had been reported since 2008.
Mrs Knight said it was the CIT's human resources centre's management of her case that had caused her own situation to escalate.
''I believe that the centre that has the biggest case to answer was not one of the three that was investigated,'' she said. ''And I'm not sure why the commissioner didn't look at the individual bullying and harassment complaints.''
In addition, Mrs Knight said there should be an external investigation of the CIT's management to try to bring about a ''change of culture from the top down''.
''I was happy in my job,'' she said.
''It was the workplace that caused me to leave.''
Mr McCabe said because the complaints were made before January 2012 there was no avenue to prosecute them with the public service and so they were not included in the report.
''So we chose to look at the system and make sure the systems were operating properly,'' he said.
''And it wasn't until we did our investigation that we found there was a broader issue and, in fact, our investigation is reflective of the human resources area.''
Meanwhile, Canberra Liberal MLA Steve Doszpot criticised the government yesterday for appointing an officer from within Chief Minister Katy Gallagher's directorate to help the CIT address the issues raised.
The Director of the Continuous Improvement and Workers' Compensation Branch, Meg Brighton, will help the institute implement the WorkSafe Improvement Notice.
But Public Administration Commissioner Andrew Kessord said Ms Brighton's role was to assist the CIT to respond to the improvement notice. ''Ultimately, it's not a question of an independent person being brought in, because the responsibility to respond is with the management of the organisation,'' he said.