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Months after governance expert Alyssa White secured a $308,000 executive job at the University of Wollongong, the complaints started to come in. An external review recommended she be put on a performance management plan, with a focus on bullying prevention and communication with staff. The recruitment of her alleged friends and associates to jobs at the university should also be subject to a review, it said.
White’s behaviour is now the subject of an Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing, where it has also been alleged that after becoming chief governance officer in 2023, she helped associates and high school friends with no experience secure jobs. She allegedly sent them job interview questions in advance and failed to declare her friendship with them on conflict of interest forms. White resigned from her post last Saturday, two days before the hearings began.
The three-week hearing is investigating whether White, university chancellor Michael Still or other staff had improperly awarded consulting work worth tens of thousands of dollars to a firm called Aspirall Consulting, among other allegations.
Former University of Wollongong deputy vice chancellor for strategy and assurance Professor Sean Brawley told the hearing on Friday how, when he hired White halfway through 2023, she seemed like an “experienced practitioner”. By January 2024, her colleagues had started approaching him and the human resources department with complaints about her management style.
“They felt that their skills and abilities were being devalued, and that there was an ‘us and them’ environment,” Brawley said.
Some staff White had hired were perceived to be in the tent, while existing staff in the division were on the outer, he said.
An external review said White allegedly told one staff member that “I am not as sweet as my predecessors”. Others complained about how the new hires, including her former Sydney University colleagues, were seated in a “management hub” separate from the pre-existing staff. White told the review it was due to insufficient desks and her wanting to promote collaboration among key positions.
The review made a total of 11 recommendations including that White be placed on a performance management plan and that the recruitment of her friends and acquaintances Lucinda Wright, Brenden Hooke, Stacy Oon and Jou-An Chen also be subject to a review.
Brawley told the inquiry they never were. He believed the only action taken was to give her some leadership coaching.
Another “serious wrongdoing reporting committee” investigation was also afoot into White, which made adverse findings against her. They were overturned after an external opinion was sought.
He also detailed how White communicated directly with the university’s chancellor, Still. When it came to interview for a promotion ultimately awarded to White’s friend Oon, Still chaired the recruitment panel.
“I was unaware in all of my experience of a case where a chancellor would chair an employment panel for a position so far down the leadership chain,” Brawley told the inquiry.
Brawley refused to sign off on a $225,000 salary for the position, believing $200,000 was more suitable. When he went to vice president of operations Matthew Wright about the salary issue he was told “he’d [Wright] signed that document under pressure from the chancellor”.
The funding for the position was tied to the chancellor’s fund, which Brawley said appeared to be a “magic pudding”.
Brawley took a redundancy from the university soon after.
Earlier in the hearing on Friday, Oon reflected on her relationship with White. She had previously told the hearing how the pair were friends who texted at 2am and Oon referred to White as “boss lady”.
Oon has previously described the “desperation” of working at the regional university, its demanding workload and inability to attract talented staff.
The inquiry previously heard how Oon used her personal email address to send certain job candidates, identified by White, the questions in advance, including Emma Pinfold and Sharon Yap.
Asked if she had challenged White, Oon said: “I think by April 2024 things with Alyssa for me had gotten so toxic that I wouldn’t have questioned it. She would tell me to do something, and I would, I would do it.”
Asked about in what regard she viewed White today, Oon said it was something she was “actively working through with the help of a psychologist”.
“I was motivated to help her as she directed, because I thought it was in the best interest of the university at some point in time. Like I said, I think the dynamics became quite toxic, and I’m trying to understand with my psychologist where that might have been the case.”
White is yet to appear at the inquiry, which is due to continue on Monday.
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