'Thanks for the job': Messages between schoolteacher and UOW executive scrutinised at ICAC
Two UOW recruits questioned over recruitment support
“Thanks for the job.”
That was the text message a University of Wollongong employee sent former chief governance officer Alyssa White after being appointed to a senior governance role - one of dozens of exchanges scrutinised at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption’s Operation Scandi inquiry on Monday, June 29.
Kayla Powell, a primary school teacher who was working casually in UOW’s Governance and Policy Division, acknowledged White helped her throughout the recruitment process, including reviewing her application, providing an example cover letter and sending suggested interview questions.
The inquiry heard Powell and White had known each other since attending Elderslie High School and remained close friends. Before joining UOW, Powell balanced teaching with casual administrative work at the University of Sydney before taking on a similar role in Wollongong.
Counsel Assisting Emma Bathurst SC took the inquiry through Facebook Messenger exchanges showing White alerted Powell to the vacancy, encouraged her to apply despite the role being advertised as full-time when Powell could only work one day a week, discussed the interview panel and helped prepare her application.
Powell accepted White’s assistance had benefited her.
Asked whether, with hindsight, it had given her an unfair advantage over other applicants, she replied: “When you put it like that? Yes.”
But she rejected the suggestion White had secured her the job.
“I believe I was responsible for getting me the job,” Powell told the inquiry, while acknowledging White’s assistance had helped.
She also denied believing the appointment was guaranteed, saying she prepared thoroughly because she wanted to put “my best foot forward”. Earlier, she told the inquiry she hoped to transition from teaching into a governance career and believed she was capable of doing the work.
The inquiry heard evidence from Emma Pinfold, another successful applicant recruited into UOW’s Governance and Policy Division and currently employed as an office coordinator at UOW.
After graduating from UOW with a communications degree in 2019, she built a career in marketing and stakeholder engagement, working for the Eddie Group, Destination Wollongong and Elite Energy Events before deciding to pursue a different career path.
Ms Pinfold, whose partner Thomas Farah previously completed UOW’s management cadet program alongside White, told the inquiry she approached the former chief governance officer after overhearing her discuss staffing shortages within the Governance and Policy Division at a housewarming gathering in April 2024.
White subsequently offered her casual work, with Ms Pinfold later applying for permanent governance roles.
The inquiry heard White reviewed Pinfold’s application, suggested Dr Stacy Oon as a referee and arranged for her to receive a pre-interview exercise before it was formally distributed because she was travelling overseas. Dr Oon later emailed her interview tips. Under questioning, Pinfold accepted she had benefited from aspects of that support.
Asked whether that assistance affected the integrity of the recruitment process, Pinfold replied: “Yes, possibly ... I understand what you’re saying and I don’t disagree.”
Counsel for White, Jillian Walsh, highlighted that Pinfold had been unanimously ranked the number one appointable candidate by the selection panel and assessed as suitable for two more senior governance positions.
Operation Scandi is examining recruitment, governance and procurement practices at the University of Wollongong, including whether recruitment processes were manipulated to benefit associates of White and whether conflicts of interest were appropriately managed.
ICAC has made no findings.
The hearing continues on Tuesday, June 30, with evidence from Aspirall CEO Tanya Diesel and UOW’s Chief People and Culture Officer, Alison Bourke.
