A senior City of Parramatta staff member has admitted to helping three friends secure jobs at the council through a “charade” application process that involved rewriting CVs, sending interview questions in advance, scripting answers, and giving examples of draft tasks.
Roxanne Thornton, on her third day of evidence at a public inquiry into the council, told the Independent Commission Against Corruption she had inappropriately intervened in the processes “because I thought I wasn’t going to get caught”.
Thornton, the council’s chief governance and risk officer, agreed with Counsel Assisting Joanna Davidson, SC’s proposition that she had inappropriately influenced the process that led to the hiring of Anna Svorinic, an executive officer to the chief executive; Heidi Wenham, a business manager; and Marina Cavar, the co-ordinator of secretariat services.
The ICAC’s Operation Navarra public inquiry is examining allegations Thornton and executive director Angela Jones-Blayney subverted recruitment and promotion practices at the council to benefit friends and associates, as well as a string of allegations against chief executive Gail Connolly, including that she spied on staff and a councillor.
The commission was on Monday shown text messages and personal emails between Thornton and those hired by the council under her authority. Svorinic had worked with Thornton and Connolly at Georges River Council.
“You better be ready to come to Parra soon babe,” Thornton texted Svorinic in March 2023.
In August, she said: “We need to chat re opportunities at Parra. I need to know how much $$ you want.”
In December, Svorinic expressed interest in the position of executive officer to the CEO. Thornton texted Svorinic asking to send her papers before applying, with a promise to “Roxy-fy it”. Working across four laptops on a bed with a woman she identified as her best friend, Thornton spent several hours editing Svorinic’s cover letter and CV.
At 12.02am on December 13, 2023, Thornton sent a revised CV from her personal email address. At 7.14am, she sent Svorinic suggested words to use in an email to Thornton’s council address requesting a late application, with the excuse that she was overseas. On Monday, Thornton agreed that the claim was not true.
Thornton spoke with HR boss Brendan Clifton about how to accept the late application of Svorinic only, not others who had sought an extension, she told the inquiry. She accepted that she went against the advice of the people and culture department to accept all late applications.
Thornton sent Svorinic the questions and answers for her interview, appeared on the recruitment panel, and did not disclose a conflict of interest. Thornton later sent examples of letters Svorinic would be asked to write as part of the recruitment process. Thornton said she followed an “almost verbatim” process for Sue Matthew, who pulled out of the application process, and Marina Cavar.
‘I thought I wasn’t going to get caught’
“I did it because I thought I wasn’t going to get caught,” she told chief commissioner John Hatzistergos when he asked how her actions aligned with her role as a governance officer. “[My attitude], based off my own life experience outside of work, are that I do not trust people generally in my life. In fact, it’s a significant flaw of mine.
“It might sound brazen and stupid, my responses, and in fact, my actions, but I am not here to mislead the commission in any way.”
Davidson asked: “Are you effectively using the word trust there to describe a person who you regarded as being loyal to yourself?”
“That plays a part in it,” Thornton said. She wanted to find someone who was “aware of my style of working and the demands” that come with it, as well as that of Connolly.
“There are a lot of staff in local government, generally, who maintain employment simply because it’s too difficult to performance manage [them] out of the organisation, and I did not have the time or patience to have a bad hire.
“Aside from, obviously, the recruitment processes of their appointment, I believe that they have all been hired with the best interests of the City of Parramatta in mind, and have remained employment, have had contracted renewed, and have a very good reputation at the City of Parramatta.”
Thornton will return to the inquiry on Tuesday to be cross-examined. Wenham, Svorinic and Cavar are also listed to appear as witnesses.
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