Dewar and Still to face ICAC as UOW inquiry enters second week
ICAC Week 1 in review: Loyalty, pressure and a text message
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption’s public inquiry into the University of Wollongong returns on Monday with a week that builds toward the most anticipated testimony of the three-week hearing.
The week’s scheduled witness list is:
Monday: Governance and policy coordinator Emma Pinfold; from 11am, former UOW deputy vice-chancellor Sean Brawley; Kayla Powell.
Tuesday: Aspirall CEO and founder Tanya Diesel and UOW’s Chief People and Culture Officer Alison Bourke.
Wednesday: UOW’s chief financial officer Matthew Wright.
Thursday: Former interim vice-chancellor Professor John Dewar.
Friday: Chancellor Michael Still.
Professor Dewar and Mr Still are among the central figures named in the Commission’s announced scope. The inquiry is examining allegations relating to the management of conflicts of interest in Prof Dewar’s engagement as interim vice-chancellor and the award of work to Aspirall Consulting International.
Loyalty, pressure and a text message
The first week of Operation Scandi laid bare a governance division shaped less by process than by personal allegiance and, witnesses said, fear of disappointing the woman at its centre.
The sharpest evidence came from governance coordinator Matthew Dawkins, who confirmed he had been close friends with the then-chief governance officer, Alyssa White, since high school.
After Mr Dawkins secured a role in Ms White’s division, she sent him a text message instructing him to conceal their friendship from the rest of the team:
“You have to make it clear we don’t know each other when you start, or that you know me from working here at orientation. Just ham that up, because that’s how I’m going to introduce you to the team.”
The message, placed before the inquiry on Day 4, was among the most direct evidence Ms White had allegedly directed a subordinate to deceive colleagues.
Former deputy chief governance officer Brenden Hooke told the inquiry he altered candidate rankings on a selection report to favour Ms White’s preferred applicant, Kayla Powell, despite believing another candidate was more qualified. He did so, he said, “on the direction of Ms White,” acknowledging he had felt “a level of expectation” from her about the outcome.
The testimony that drew the most sustained attention came from associate director Dr Stacy Oon, who gave evidence across Days 3, 4 and 5. Dr Oon described a mentor-mentee relationship with White that she said became consuming and ultimately harmful to her wellbeing. Breaking down while giving evidence, Dr Oon told the inquiry:
“I believe so strongly in the importance of work we did that my relationship with work and with Alyssa really became quite toxic. Work was all-consuming. I stopped talking to friends, ex-colleagues ... she would also say things to me like I couldn’t do this without you, that the team would fall apart if I left, and I really felt trapped.”
Dr Oon said she recognised Ms White used the closeness of their relationship to “control and direct” her, and that this dynamic led her to bypass proper process: “I wouldn’t have questioned Alyssa and say, ‘Why couldn’t somebody else do it?’ By this point in time, our relationship was very much of that nature - if she said it needed to be done, I would do it.”
Sean Brawley and deputy university secretary Lucinda Wright also gave evidence of a work division fractured along the lines between those within White’s personal circle and those who were not. Mr Brawley detailed the grievances brought to him by pre-existing governance and policy division staff, who felt completely alienated after Ms White rapidly hired multiple of her former associates into the team:
"They were concerned that there were people inside and outside of a governance tent and they were feeling pushed to the outside. They felt that their skills and abilities were being devalued, that there was an us and them environment."
The inquiry resumes Monday at 10am.
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