The head of the Northern Territory public service has issued a warning to all staff to "carefully verify" employee qualifications, after the anti-corruption watchdog found a "public officer" falsified their resume to win three high-ranking jobs.
In an internal email to all NT government employees, obtained by the ABC, Commissioner for Public Employment Vicki Telfer said "integrity in recruitment [was] fundamental to ensuring the [Northern Territory Public Service] has a highly capable workforce".
"Pre-employment checks, including checks on qualifications claimed by applicants, is so important," Ms Telfer said in the email sent on Tuesday morning.
Last week, Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC), Michael Riches, found an unnamed "public officer" falsified qualifications and engaged in corrupt conduct on three occasions.
He did not reveal who the person was, or where they worked, but said they had been the chief financial officer of a public body in 2013 and 2017 and the chief operating officer of a public body in 2018.
The ICAC act defines a "public body" as — among others — an agency, local government council, police force, court, board, commission or tribunal, nursing home, public hospital, university, or any other body that receives public resources or performs a public function.
Mr Riches found the individual had claimed to have a tertiary qualification and falsified supporting documents to win jobs.
He found that verification of their claim in 2017 was not sought until after they had been appointed to the role.
In her email to all staff, Ms Telfer reminded employers that "selection panels are required to sight copies of all tertiary qualifications" that applicants claim to have.
"If an applicant is unable to produce a copy of a qualification they claim to have in their resume, they are not to be progressed to the on-boarding stage," Ms Telfer said.
"Panels are also required to carefully verify work-experience with well-placed referees."
Audit of all public employees recommended
Following his investigation, Mr Riches recommended "all public bodies" audit their personnel records in cases where a person's employment is contingent on them holding "a particular qualification".
"I am confident this is not an isolated incident," Mr Riches said.
"While I recognise that such checks create an additional resource burden during a recruitment process, these events represent a glaring example of why those checks are so important. All public officers should take note."
Mr Riches said he had already made some recommendations about recruitment within public offices and that he intended to make more, but did not specify what those recommendations were.
A Northern Territory government spokesperson said Ms Telfer was "currently working with CEOs" to implement the ICAC's recommendations within government agencies only.
"The Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment has undertaken a significant amount of work over the last couple of years in the area of recruitment and pre-employment screening and the Commissioner is confident that NTPS recruitment is robust," a spokesperson said.
