A report from an independent review of the restructure of Biosecurity Tasmania has recently been handed to the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE).
This report may flag serious problems with how the restructure was managed and how staff were treated. It may point to a culture of cover-up within management.
But we will never know what was in this report thanks to this department.
The report will never be released.
Why?
Is it because the report is highly critical of the senior management of Biosecurity Tasmania, finding that they provided misinformation to staff about changes, applied inconsistent recruitment processes, and bullied staff during the restructure?
Did the report find that Biosecurity Tasmania had failed to respond to serious welfare concerns raised by staff, revealing that managers actively cultivated a culture of cover-up in the workplace?
Did it expose that there was evidence of a lack of proper governance and a failure in the duty of care shown by management?
A senior manager who resigned from Biosecurity Tasmania in 2015 described the restructure in an open letter to staff as a ‘dog’s breakfast’ and ‘the most atrociously implemented organisational change’ he had seen in over 30 years with the public service.
Was he right?
Did the report identify that Biosecurity Tasmania did not meet the Tasmanian Government’s own policy for Managing Positions in the State Service? Did it recommend that there needed to be a fundamental change in the leadership culture within Biosecurity Tasmania?
Biosecurity Tasmania was surveyed in 2015 by the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), who had concerns about what was going on. That survey identified high levels of dissatisfaction with the management of the restructure, high levels of workplace stress and low levels of staff morale.
Was it right?
More recently in May 2016, the CPSU accused Biosecurity Tasmania of under-reporting workplace stress when it failed to include staff stress leave in Right to Information (RTI) documents. The RTI documents were later found to have excluded one staff member who had been on stress leave for over six months. Did the report expose why so many Biosecurity Tasmania staff were taking stress leave?
Biosecurity Tasmania was formed in May 2014 when the Biosecurity and Product Integrity Division merged with the Invasive Species Branch. The restructure has been widely criticised by staff, with concerns raised about how the process was being managed and increasing levels of workplace stress.
In contrast, Minister for Primary Industries, Jeremy Rockliff, has flatly rejected claims of low morale within Biosecurity Tasmania and thrown his full confidence behind those managing the restructure.
Has the Minister been choosing to ignore problems in his portfolio?
General Manager of Biosecurity Tasmania, Dr Lloyd Klumpp, who oversaw the restructure, asserts that the restructure has been a success and staff were happy with the process. The General Manager has just been reappointed for a further five year term.
The review of the restructure of Biosecurity Tasmania was carried out by an independent auditor after a staff member took their concerns about management of the process to the Tasmanian Industrial Commission.
With all the problems that were being raised, why didn’t the department itself look into what had gone wrong?
This report leaves the department with serious questions to answer.
Is not releasing the report covering up a culture of cover-up?
To ask why you can’t have a copy of the report, contact John Whittington, Secretary of DPIPWE, [email protected]
Friends of Biosecurity Tasmania
