'That is a nonsense': Prof Brawley rejects ICAC claims he failed to act
Former deputy vice-chancellor defends his handling of concerns raised by an independent review.
Former University of Wollongong deputy vice-chancellor Professor Sean Brawley has rejected claims he failed to act after an independent review raised concerns about conflicts of interest within the university’s governance division.
During a combative cross-examination at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption’s Operation Scandi inquiry on Monday, June 29, counsel for former Chief Governance Officer Alyssa White, Michael O’Brien, repeatedly challenged Prof Brawley’s leadership, suggesting he should have intervened after seeing the results of the independent cultural review rather than allowing White’s probation to expire and further recruitment to continue.
Prof Brawley insisted he had no evidence to support the allegations and had acted on the advice provided to him by the university’s people and culture team.
O’Brien sought to demonstrate the Governance and Policy Division was already under significant pressure before White arrived at UOW in October 2023, taking Prof Brawley through internal reports identifying staffing shortages, governance risks and the need for structural reform.
Prof Brawley agreed that the division was under-resourced and defended interim Chief Governance Officer Mark Roberts, saying he had worked hard to improve governance processes despite university austerity measures that prevented additional recruitment.
He said White was brought into discussions about future recruitment before she was formally employed because the university wanted its incoming governance chief to help shape the structure of the division she would soon lead.
“We were certainly keen to ensure that any decisions that we were making would align with her thinking on where she wanted to take the governance division,” he said.
The inquiry heard White identified potential candidates from within her professional network.
Prof Brawley said it was appropriate for White to participate as an external member of recruitment panels before she officially joined UOW because it allowed her to contribute to appointments she would soon oversee.
O’Brien also questioned Prof Brawley about his knowledge of White’s previous working relationships with recruits Lucinda Wright, Brendan Hook and Dr Pei Shan Stacy Oon.
Prof Brawley accepted he knew Wright and Hook had previously worked with White at the University of Sydney, but maintained he did not appreciate until months later that Dr Oon had also worked in the same governance office, despite her résumé forming part of the documentation attached to her appointment.
Prof Brawley described his role as a Level 4 delegate responsible for approving appointments after university recruitment processes had been completed. He said Dr Oon’s appointment had already been agreed between White and then vice-chancellor Professor Patricia Davidson before it came to him for approval, insisting he was not “a rubber stamp” despite repeated suggestions from O’Brien that he had treated the approvals as largely procedural.
The hearing then turned to complaints raised by governance staff in early 2024.
Prof Brawley confirmed employees approached him expressing concerns about an emerging “inside and outside the tent” culture within the division.
However, he said those complaints initially related to management style and workplace culture rather than recruitment practices or conflicts of interest. He said the concerns were referred to people and culture, ultimately leading to the independent cultural review.
O’Brien questioned why Prof Brawley had not taken further action after receiving the findings.
Prof Brawley told the Commission he had been advised by people and culture that the recruitment-related issues identified in the review were not being pursued. He said he relied on that advice and understood any further action would be handled through the university’s established processes.
When O’Brien suggested his handling of the matter amounted to poor leadership, Prof Brawley disagreed.
“I had no information to support the allegation,” he told the inquiry.
Later, when O’Brien suggested he did not want questions about the recruitments to become public, Prof Brawley dismissed the proposition as “a nonsense”.
Operation Scandi is investigating 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.
The hearing is expected to run for approximately three weeks.
ICAC has made no findings in Operation Scandi.
