The South Australian government’s state planning reform director will undergo public sector standards training after an internal investigation found he “fell short of expected standards of conduct”.
The Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure last month launched the inquiry after public servant Ray Partridge — who has been leading the state government’s new electronic planning system — fired a contractor who was working on the project.
The contractor had reportedly raised concerns over Partridge’s demand that staff return to their offices amid the coronavirus pandemic, rather than working from home.
But Partridge has been working from his Sydney home for the past month, department chief executive Tony Braxton-Smith told state parliament on Monday.
When Budget and Finance Committee chair Kyam Maher pointed out the hypocritical nature of the situation, Braxton-Smith justified it by comparing the sacked contractor as “a bricklayer [who] must perform their work on the job”, with Partridge as “a project manager for construction of a house can work remotely from time to time”.
Partridge was appointed to oversee the e-Planning overhaul several months ago, after his predecessor Marcus Bal quit, along with most of the team leading the reforms.
Read more: SA major digital planning reforms delayed, bureaucrats quit
Braxton-Smith said that while Partridge was contractually allowed to work from Sydney for two out of five days a week, he had spent six weeks in SA due to pandemic-induced border restrictions before returning home.
Despite this, the departmental investigation had found that Partridge “fell short of expected standards of conduct”, Braxton-Smith told parliament.
He said he’d written to Partridge “with clear direction and advice to him as to what the standards are, and the consequences of any further failure to adhere to them”.
“I’ve provided him with guidance, pointed out to him the consequences of any repeat of a failure to meet public service standards and required him to have training in public sector standards,” he said.
The department has launched another inquiry into information that was leaked to the SA news website, InDaily, regarding the contractor’s sacking.
Parliament heard that the department has also ended its deal with the entire contracting firm working on the e-Planning project, as the work that was required had been successfully completed.
Braxton-Smith told parliament he was “confident” the e-Planning project would be rolled out by September.
Prior to heading SA’s transport department, Braxton-Smith was a deputy secretary at Transport for NSW. Partridge also previously worked for the NSW government, in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and Service NSW.
Braxton-Smith confirmed the two had worked together while they were both employed by the NSW government, and since then Partridge had also been procured to help develop a strategy for Service SA.
The department head argued that, despite the connections, he had no involvement with appointing Partridge to the planning reform role, and had “learned about it post the fact”.
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