Public sector executive appointments

The question put

That this house: (1) notes the appointment of Mr Jeroen Weimar as deputy secretary of housing implementation in the Department of Premier and Cabinet and that: (a) it follows an admission by Premier Jacinta Allan MP that she had conversations with the head of the department Mr Jeremi Moule about Mr Weimar’s appointment and there were no other candidates for the position; (b) Mr Weimar has no experience in housing and, until a few months ago, was the head of the Commonwealth Games organising committee; (c) the Commonwealth Games debacle has cost Victorian taxpayers at least $600 million and trashed the state’s reputation; (d) in her report on the alleged politicisation of the public sector last December, the Ombudsman Ms Deborah Glass found ‘frequent side-stepping of merit-based recruitment …’; (e) the Ombudsman also found candidates were ‘often hand-picked without an open and advertised process’; (2) pursuant to section 16 of the Ombudsman Act 1973, refers the following matter to the Ombudsman for investigation and report: (a) the appointment of Mr Weimar as deputy secretary of housing implementation in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, as it raises the same concerns that the