The State Government has refused to give the Opposition access to documents detailing the costing of a departmental investigation into former agronomist Paul Parker’s interview with The Young Witness.
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After Shadow Minister for Regional Affairs Mick Veitch questioned the cost of the Department of Primary Industries’ (DPI) investigation in the Legislative Council on Tuesday, Roads Minister Duncan Gay returned a figure of $7,684.09 later that day.
Taking into account the cost of private investigators, transport and accommodation for Mr Parker to travel to Sydney and Mr Parker and other employees’ time, Mr Veitch said the figure didn’t add up.
“It just can’t be right,” he said. “It must have cost more.”
On Wednesday, Mr Veitch made an Order for Papers to the Legislative Council asking for all documents relating to the investigation, including costs, to be made available within 14 days.
The government objected to the order due to advice from the DPI that the documents contained sensitive information and releasing them would breach privacy and confidentiality requirements.
Mr Veitch said it was an opportunity for the government to stand up and be transparent in regards to the investigation.
“I smell a rat - if they had nothing to hide, they should have agreed and supported the paper work,” he said.
When asked whether the figure included the costs for Mr Parker’s time and travel expenses, Minister for Primary Industries Katrina Hodgkinson said she didn’t know as she’d been far removed from the investigation but had no reason to dispute the figure provided.
“It’s firmly in the realm of the department,” she said.
As for the documents, she said although it was a decision for the department, they couldn’t be released without written consent.
“I’m really happy to sit down with Mick and whoever and get the relevant information but he hasn’t approached me,” she said.
“If we had written consent by Paul Parker there wouldn’t be an issue.”
Mr Parker told The Witness he was happy to sign for their release.
“I’ve got nothing to hide,” he said.
Mr Parker himself estimated the cost of the investigation, including his own time, amounted to tens of thousands of dollars.
He planned to meet with Mr Veitch to give him an electronic copy of the report given to him by the department. This document will be made available to parliament.
This report doesn’t detail the costs of the investigation but contains other revealing information.
He also passed on a copy to The Young Witness.
In parliament on Wednesday, Mr Veitch asked why Mr Parker wasn’t allowed legal representation when he saw Mr Patterson.
Mr Gay said he would refer the question to the minister.
Ms Hodgkinson yesterday told The Witness she couldn’t answer this as it was a question for the department.
On Tuesday, Shadow Minister for the Department of Primary Industries Steve Whan used comments made by Witness editor Edwina Mason to ask whether it was standard practice to hire private investigators when investigating public servants.
“Given recent comments by the editor of the Young Witness that revealed that private investigators were "ambushing people around town" during the investigation of Mr Paul Parker, a former Department of Primary Industries staff member, will the Minister confirm that that is standard practice when investigating public servants? “ he said.
Mr Gay again took the question on notice to refer to the minister.
Ms Hodgkinson said the DPI had advised her private investigators weren’t hired but instead “Wise Workplace human relations experts”.
She said they were hired to provide an independent and unbiased investigation and department’s response was consistent with requirements of public servants to adhere to their media policy of not speaking outside their expertise.
However, in the report by Wise Workplace Investigations provided to Mr Parker and sighted by The Witness the former federal police officers referred to themselves continually as investigators.
Mr Parker said the report was far from unbiased with frequent inaccuracies to try and prove their case against him.
Mr Veitch said the next step was to try and gain the support of the crossbenchers and push for a vote on the issue.
The story so far
• The Department of Primary Industries launches an investigation after Young agronomist Paul Parker makes comments to The Young Witness indicating there will be job losses in the
department after a $30 million budget cut.
• Private investigators are hired to grill Mr Parker and Witness managing editor Edwina Mason over the comments.
• Investigators recommend that Mr Parker and Ms Mason be reported to ICAC.
• Mr Parker travels to attend an interview in Sydney with government’s third most
senior bureaucrat, Mark Paterson.
