Heading to the Public Sector Commission

I returned home late on a Friday afternoon, it was the final day of the year for me so we had been out for our Christmas drinks and I then had a barbecue out on the back lawn with my father.

There was a letter sitting on the kitchen counter when I returned home later in the evening with OHMS in bold print on the top of the envelope. This is an official government letter, On Her Majesty's Service usually spells trouble and I was concerned I had some sort of traffic offence.

Instead, I had been contacted by the Public Sector Commission to give evidence in an investigation they were undertaking. To be fair, I had initiated this investigation as a breach of employment standard as I had applied for a position and had been unsuccessful.

No big issue there, job applications are a competitive process and there are winners and losers. You can never challenge the decision but you can challenge the process and I was able to support my claim that I was overlooked for the position because I had reported misappropriation of government funds as we had claimed funding that we were not entitled to claim.

I had evidence that poor practices were being undertaken, certain individuals were receiving promotions without a competitive process and positions were being abused. My claim had merit as I spoke to the case officer on the telephone as she requested further details for clarification.

She then presented the case to the executive and they made a decision as to whether the claim had merit and should be pursued. The official letter from the Public Sector Commission left no doubt in my mind, they were taking this case seriously.

I had also told her that I was seeking alternative employment and resigning over the matter. I informed her I did not want to drop the matter as whilst there was no personal benefit for myself, I could improve the prospects of future applicants for fair and equitable treatment.

In Western Australia we have just had a high profile case where government employees had acted in a corrupt manner for procurement of state government tenders. This case had been plastered across the front page of the newspaper for days on end forming a huge discussion on talk back radio, letters to the editor and kitchen table discussions.

Now I had unearthed questionable practices in a state government agency that could be interpreted as corruption. Apparently there had already been a Corruption and Crime Commission investigation but I was unaware of the outcomes as only the person who had made the report was notified and that reporter was anonymous - despite this, I was the one held responsible.

It is unlawful for an organisation to take action against a person making a report of impropriety. All I know is that I am glad I have found another employer and I no longer have to work here anymore. I had to return for weeks after Christmas and I am then free of this poorly managed organisation.