Independent Member for Kurrajong Thomas Emerson MLA is calling for Dr Margot McNeill to be dismissed from her position as the Chief Executive Officer of the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT), two weeks after his calls for her to stand down went unanswered.

This follows damning findings from an ACT Legislative Assembly inquiry report released today.

Findings include that Dr McNeill “actively misled the CIT Board by denying that there was a finding of misconduct that had been made against her.”

“The CIT Board needs to take decisive action and dismiss Dr McNeill,” said Mr Emerson.

“Dr McNeill is contractually and legally obliged to exercise honesty in her job. Surely actively misleading the Board is a blatant violation of that obligation.”

Mr Emerson has also been pushing for governance reform at CIT, and welcomed the Committee’s finding that current governance arrangements are not fit-for-purpose. 

“CIT’s reputation has been significantly damaged by the conduct of successive CEOs,” Mr Emerson said.

”These scandals have undermined public trust in CIT and distracted from its core function of delivering quality education for Canberrans.

“We need to look at why CIT’s governance arrangements have failed so spectacularly - twice in a row - and what reforms are needed to keep this from happening in the future.”

MEDIA CONTACT: Will Devine | 0402 183 296 | [email protected]

BACKGROUND

Following media reporting about allegations of Dr McNeill’s misconduct while employed at TAFE NSW, the ACT Minister for Skills, Training and Industrial Relations Michael Pettersson MLA requested an independent review of the recruitment and selection process that led to Dr McNeill’s appointment as CEO of CIT. You can read the independent review here.

In follow-up questions to the reviewer, Minister Pettersson stated that “there are a number of instances in which it appears that Dr McNeill may have acted dishonestly.”

You can read the Committee report here. 

The report findings include:  

• Finding 6: The Committee finds that Dr McNeill should have disclosed the information about the misconduct investigation or findings to the CIT Board in a timely manner and that she did not, and that she actively misled the CIT Board by denying that there was a finding of misconduct that had been made against her.
• Finding 8: The Committee finds that the governance arrangements of the CIT Board are not fit for purpose.

Dr McNeill’s predecessor as the CEO of CIT, Leanne Cover, was found to have engaged in corrupt conduct after misleading the CIT Board and the Minister in relation to millions of dollars of contracts.