Perhaps it is ironic the board chair of the Canberra Institute of Technology believes paying two people more than $370,000 for the one job is "a price worth paying".
Remember, some in CIT clearly believed $8.78 million of taxpayers' money awarded to companies owned by "complexity and systems thinker" Patrick Hollingworth was a price worth paying.
CIT board chair Kate Lundy told budget estimates paying stood-down chief executive Leanne Cover for the entirety of an integrity commission investigation into the affair was money well spent, to preserve "procedural fairness and natural justice".
Few would argue about the need for both. But what's also needed is speed and a resolution.
In the meantime, is it really essential taxpayers are slugged twice for a salary well beyond most people's imaginations for what could drag on for years?
The ACT Integrity Commission's role is to "strengthen public confidence in the integrity of the ACT government by preventing, investigating, and exposing corruption".
There is no suggestion Ms Cover, nor anyone else at CIT, will fall foul of the commission.
However, there are a series of issues with how the contracts were handled and, even if this doesn't amount to corruption, Ms Cover's future at the institute appears tenuous.
To recap, this is what is already known:
- The board said the largest contract of $4.99 million was awarded without its oversight;
- The CIT board could not guarantee the contract represented value for money;
- CIT did not follow advice from the ACT government's procurement board and withheld important information from them;
- CIT awarded the $4.99 million contract to Think Garden despite it being more than $2 million higher than any other offer. Mr Hollingworth also offered a discount if the fees were paid up front and was paid $1.7 million just for signing the contract; and
- Think Garden is suing CIT for almost $3.4 million.
This was taxpayers' money and it was seemingly splashed around without proper oversight and without any guarantees it would provide value for money.
While it may be tempting to think that $370,000 or even the $8.7 million are small change in the grand scheme of the ACT budget, they are objectively large sums of money. Not quite the $76 million blown on an aborted HR scheme, but still big money.
Taxes are supposed to be spent towards initiatives for the common good.
Ms Lundy is right when she says the Integrity Commission investigation needs to move more quickly. It's been 14 months since this came to light.
Integrity commissioner Michael Adams KC has said the investigation is a priority and other work has been abandoned to focus on this.
But while this is ongoing CIT is left in a state of limbo as it is unable to recruit a permanent chief executive.
The acting chief executive is not even based in Canberra and it is unfair to expect her to move to the capital when she is on a limited contract.
This is all happening while there are significant skills shortages and a new multimillion-dollar CIT campus is being built at Woden. The institute needs stability. Students and staff need this.
CIT had intended to conduct an internal audit into the contracts and a performance review of Ms Cover but the Integrity Commission asked them to stop this.
In matters of this kind thought needs to be given to fast resolutions so the cost of "natural justice" isn't extortionate.
