Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas said today the Weatherill Government had re-employed an executive who only weeks earlier had been sacked and given a massive termination payout from Mr Weatherill’s own Department.
“The Commissioner for Public Sector Employment Erma Ranieri in evidence to the Budget and Finance Committee has confirmed this occurred and also indicated she was aware of another example as well,” said Mr Lucas.
“It is yet another stunning example of financial mismanagement and incompetence by Mr Weatherill and Mr Koutsantonis when they sack an executive and pay out between $204,000 and $313,000 only to re-employ the same executive weeks later.”
The details of this case are:
• In January 2015 Mr Weatherill’s new CEO Kym Winter-Dewhirst sacks on the spot an executive who in 2014 had just been given a five year contract expiring in February 2019.
• The executive was in the SAES1 classification and was paid somewhere between $153,000 and $235,000.
• The contract’s termination provision requires a payout of 16 months’ salary or somewhere between $204,000 and $313,000.
• Weeks later the executive was re-employed by the Weatherill Government in an executive position in SAFECOM.
“Mr Weatherill and Mr Koutsantonis need to explain why they didn’t treat the executive with respect and provide the opportunity for the executive to be transferred to another department without taxpayers having to payout between $204,000 and $313,000,” said Mr Lucas.
“At a time when the Weatherill Government is closing the Repat Hospital and cutting Emergency Department services this is simply an outrageous waste of taxpayers’ money.”
