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At a housewarming for her husband’s university friend, Emma Pinfold overheard host Alyssa White, the chief governance officer for the University of Wollongong, complaining her team was underresourced.
Pinfold, who had been considering a career change, later sent White a Facebook message and asked to meet for coffee. “I was just curious for her guidance as a successful person,” she told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Monday.
They met in White’s office. Pinfold brought her resumé. Despite having no history in university governance, the former marketing manager for a sports events organisation walked out with an offer for a casual administrative role in White’s division.
That role and the lucrative appointments that followed are among matters being examined by the ICAC’s public inquiry into allegations University of Wollongong staff, including White, subverted recruitment practices, helping her friends and associates secure jobs on at least 10 occasions.
Shortly after Pinfold started the casual job, the pair struck up another conversation on Facebook Messenger. White told her three full-time roles had become available.
Pinfold replied: “Did I recall correctly that you said it would be appropriate for me to send a copy of my resumé and cover letter to you before submission?”
“Yeah, just send over this or Gmail if you like,” replied White.
Pinfold told the inquiry White had earlier offered to look over her application as a “support mechanism”. She also sought White’s advice on who she should list as a referee, given White herself was the hiring manager.
Before she received a formal interview invitation, Pinfold also raised the prospect of taking leave if she succeeded in getting a job, telling White she was planning an overseas trip.
“If (hypothetically) I were to be employed at the time do you see any issue with the holiday?” she asked.
White replied: “Not at all a problem. And you will definitely be employed!!”
Counsel assisting Emma Bathurst asked whether Pinfold believed she was given an advantage over other candidates.
“I wouldn’t say that I took that message as confirmation that I would get a role,” Pinfold said.
“To me this was quite a casual, encouraging message from her behalf. It’s not something that’s coming from HR with an offer. I knew the interviews were still to come.” She conceded “maybe she meant it as confirmation, but that’s not how I interpreted it at the time”.
When Pinfold obtained interviews for three positions, she continued to receive support and encouragement from White.
White’s subordinate, Dr Stacy Oon – who appeared at inquiry last week – sent Pinfold the pre-interview activity the night before other applicants received it, as Pinfold was due to head overseas.
Pinfold told the inquiry she was under the impression receiving the activity before other candidates “wasn’t inappropriate” because she was “at the disadvantage of having a lack of time” due to her holiday.
She later conceded: “In hindsight, and under the lens of this investigation, I acknowledge that it may not have been appropriate.”
The inquiry also heard from primary school teacher Kayla Powell, a close friend of White’s since high school. It was alleged that White urged Powell to apply for a job and helped with her application.
Messages shown during the hearing revealed White sent Powell a suggested cover letter, which Powell then used. White also sent Powell the questions she intended to ask in her job interview.
Powell told the commission she accepted she had been advantaged over other applicants. She applied for the full-time role, despite only being available one day a week. “When I could, I did extra days to help the team out.”
Before Powell started, White sent her a message warning her not to be “too super duper friendly” at work with a mutual high school friend, Matthew Dawkins, an electrician also given a plum job by White, despite having no expertise, failing to complete a pre-interview task and submitting his application late.
“Haha I did think about that,” Powell replied.
Bathurst put to her that, by that exchange, Powell appreciated that if someone at work knew she, White and Dawkins were close friends, that person might question whether White’s decision to hire them was influenced by her own interests.
Asked why she concealed those friendships from others in the workplace, Powell replied: “I am not sure.”
“You thought about that because you knew that your recruitment was not above board,” Bathurst suggested.
“I don’t know,” Powell said. “I can’t recall what I was thinking at the time.”
Commissioner Paul Lakatos, SC, asked Powell what she understood the term “conflict of interest” meant. She paused.
“Um, anything that would … hmm … conflict of interest. Anything that would stop me from performing my duties in the job properly,” she said.
The hearing continues.
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Emily Kowal is a Walkley award-winning education reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners
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