Firm at centre of Chancellor allegations engaged twice without tender, inquiry hears
Witness admits years of leaked interview questions
The consulting firm at the centre of allegations involving UOW Chancellor Michael Still was engaged twice by the university without competitive tender, the NSW corruption inquiry heard on Wednesday.
The governance officer who revealed this also admitted she and former chief governance officer Alyssa White ran a sustained pattern of leaking interview questions and tips to favoured candidates.
Dr Stacy Oon, UOW’s associate director of strategic governance and projects, told the inquiry that Aspirall Consulting International was engaged in 2024 to run Vice-Chancellor recruitment focus groups and again in 2025 for executive and council workshops, with evidence suggesting neither engagement went to tender.
That line of questioning was ongoing when the session ended and is likely to continue on Thursday.
Under examination by Counsel Assisting Emma Bathurst, Dr Oon accepted she shared pre-interview questions or coaching tips - at White’s direction or with her knowledge - with at least three candidates for positions in UOW’s Governance and Policy Division: Emma Pinfold, Rosie Biasi, and Sharon Yap. In each case, communications were conducted via personal Gmail or WhatsApp to avoid detection within university systems.
The pattern extended to Dr Oon’s own appointments. She accepted she received advance interview questions from White via Gmail before her 2024 promotion to associate director, drafted the pre-interview exercise for that same competitive process, and workshopped her proposed answers with White beforehand. Her salary for the role opened at $200,000 and after White allegedly advocated with HR on her behalf, the final package settled at $225,000.
Dr Oon told the inquiry she knew what she and White were doing “would flag with HR” and was “not above-board,” and that personal email accounts were used precisely because of that. She also admitted removing White’s name from document metadata, including interview questions White had drafted, before forwarding them to other panel members.
‘A sense of desperation’
When asked why she persisted in conduct she knew was wrong, an emotional Dr Oon described an environment of poor culture, unsustainable workload and repeated failures to secure additional staff. Concerns raised with HR, she said, were met with advice to “stop working.”
“There was a sense of desperation. I like being in governance. I feel that I’m good at it. I didn’t want to just leave when the university was struggling.”
The evidence continues a pattern established over three days of hearings. Lucinda Wright, White’s former University of Sydney colleague who became UOW’s Deputy University Secretary, spent two days in the witness box before being discharged on Tuesday.
Brenden Hooke, whose own appointment is also before the inquiry, gave evidence on Tuesday that he amended a candidate ranking at White’s direction during a 2024 recruitment process without asking for reasons and without consulting the panel’s third member, later signing a report stating all panel members agreed.
ICAC has made no findings in Operation Scandi. All individuals named are the subject of allegations being examined at a public inquiry.
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