Skills Minister Chris Steel has defended his response to contracts awarded by the Canberra Institute of Tehcnology following the release of an integrity report which found the former chief executive had engaged in "serious corrupt conduct".
But Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee said there were still serious questions for Mr Steel to answer despite the commission finding the minister had been misled.
An ACT Integrity Commission report showed Mr Steel and his chief of staff had expressed their concerns about CIT entering into contracts with entities from "complexity and systems thinker" Patrick Hollingworth.
The institute entered into more than $8.5 million worth of contracts over a five-year period.
The report showed Mr Steel had first raised concerns about the contracts in February 2021. It showed his former chief of staff had again raised concerns in December 2021 as the former CEO Leanne Cover was attempting to embark on another contract with Mr Hollingworth.
Ms Cover would go on to enter into a $4.99 million contract the following March but this was not brought to Mr Steel's attention until June 2022 when the opposition started public questioning the contracts.
Mr Steel said there was no contact between his office and CIT between December 2021 and June 2022 about the contracts.
But the Skills Minister said his actions to question the contracts ultimately resulted in the findings against the former CEO as the report showed there had been a "pattern of concealment" from both him and the CIT board.
"It's because of the actions that I took to hold the former CEO accountable in relation to the earlier contracts, as well as my office in relation to warnings given about any future contracts for Mr Hollingworth and his associated entities," he said.
"The response from the CEO which was in bad faith, which was deliberate, dishonest and concealed key facts from her board that she's been found to be corrupt."
This was refuted by Ms Lee who said there should have been better oversight from Mr Steel.
She said she could not understand how the Minister was unaware of anything between December 2021 and June 2022. She said this was despite the opposition being aware after concerned CIT staff had raised the matter with her office.
"It's absolutely clear that at best Chris Steel has dropped the ball as minister with oversight of these contracts and at worst has been utterly useless and ineffective in bringing scrutiny to what has been," she said.
Ms Lee also hit out at Mr Steel for not doing anything to stop Ms Cover being paid her full salary after he had received a copy of the corruption report in November.
Under the Integrity Commission Act, there are strict rules for witnesses in investigations and Mr Steel was prevented from taking any actions until the report was released.
Ms Cover resigned from CIT last week. She was paid her full $373,000-a-year salary for the two years she was stood down.
Mr Steel said he was confident CIT had made changes to ensure this could never happen again, including increasing the number of executives and adopting a new strategic plan.
He also said changes had been made to the government's procurement laws that if risks had not been addressed following recommendations from the procurement board this would be escalated to the relevant minister or the board of a statutory authority.
"This new process will set up, I think, a good process going forward where at the very earliest opportunity these risks can be raised ahead of a contract or procurement going ahead," Mr Steel said.
