The Canberra Institute of Technology paid a mentoring invoice for its chief executive officer more than two and a half times larger than her annual salary.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The institute paid $852,500 for one-on-one mentoring services for its chief executive that included five meetings a month, "unplanned advice" and phone calls returned within 24 hours.
CIT chief executive Leanne Cover, who is paid $318,687 each year, has defended a series of contracts worth more than $8.5 million over five years paid by the training organisation to a single consultant, who provided the mentoring services.
Ms Cover said consultant Patrick Hollingworth had built the Canberra Institute of Technology's "adaptive capacity to listen to what the industry needs".
"The service provision that we've been seeking has been to co-design new ways of working, new ways of getting data utilised and analysing what our students really need," Ms Cover told ABC radio on Wednesday.
"Already, we're starting to see the seeds of those changes happening."
CIT paid an invoice for "CEO mentoring" on August 19, 2021, one of 16 invoices paid since 2017 that total more than $4.5 million.
The amount of the latest contract awarded to a company run by Mr Hollingworth - $4,999,990.00 - was $10 below the threshold at which it would have needed to go before the government procurement board.
Skills Minister Chris Steel has said he could not understand what the latest contract covers and last year raised concerns over contracts awarded to Mr Hollingworth.
READ MORE:
The part of the contract which specifies mentoring is heavily redacted, which Ms Cover said protected commercially sensitive information about the consultant's methodology.
"The redaction is a normal process ... as providers can seek to have details such as commercial-in-confidence details [removed]," she said.
Documents released under freedom-of-information laws show mentoring took the form of "unplanned advice" including "any phone call returned within 24 hours".
Mentoring to the chief executive also included a scheduled teleconference "approximately once a week" and a half-day, face-to-face meeting approximately every month.
Ms Cover was appointed chief executive officer at the Canberra Institute of Technology in January 2016, after time working in the Education Directorate and serving on the institute's board.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
