Latest news with #Palassis
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
The schools boss, the 120 messages and a multimillion-dollar contract
The inquiry was shown text messages from June 2017 in which Palassis wished Manning luck for his School Infrastructure job interview, and congratulated him when he got the role. 'Just had a call from Minister [Brad] Hazzard congratulating me on my new role,' Manning wrote. Palassis responded: 'Game. Set. Match. Well done buddy.' The pair met for drinks in September and messages shown reveal the pair were critical of Amy Brown, then a partner at the consultancy firm PwC. The inquiry has heard Brown had been in contact with Manning leading up to his interview, and had mentioned him as a potential candidate for the job to then-education minister Rob Stokes. Counsel assisting Jamie Darams SC asked Manning if the text messages showed there was a 'personality issue' between Palassis and Brown. Manning said he could not recall the issues and could not remember 'doing anything about it'. 'Is the reason you didn't do anything about it because you saw the whole tender process as a means to get Mr Palassis and his company engaged with School Infrastructure?' asked Darams, who at one point compared it to a Trojan horse. Manning replied: 'I don't remember anything of the sort.' Loading Under questioning, Manning conceded he should have declared his relationship with Palassis. 'Given this additional correspondence, you certainly should have been making it clear to people who were tasked with assessing whether contracts should go to Mr Palassis' company that you had a relationship with him,' Darams said. 'And as a matter of probity, transparency, all of that should have been declared, do you accept that?' Manning replied: 'Yeah, I do.' Later in the day, Manning was asked about another contract – for 'strategic communications' services – that was awarded to consulting firm Kathy Jones and Associates. That firm was paid about $9 million over six years, the inquiry has heard. The inquiry has previously heard Manning described Jones as his 'communications fairy godmother', a comment Manning said on Monday he may have made 'once or twice'. He told the inquiry that he should have declared his relationship with Jones. 'There were relationship issues I was having with the minister's office [in 2023], and I was using Kathy as a sounding board.' He told the inquiry Jones had helped him with personal issues in 2016, and that year she suggested the pair meet while they were both in London and they had Christmas lunch at Ormeggio in The Spit. On Monday morning, Manning was asked about another contract awarded to a long-time friend, Martin Berry, and his consultancy Heathwest Advisory. Darams took Manning through a briefing document to contract Berry for $596,250 to 'lead the property and accommodations teams' at the building unit in 2019. The inquiry has previously heard Heathwest did not submit a proposal or go through a competitive tender for the contract, and no conflict of interest was declared over the pair's relationship. Manning told the inquiry Berry began work on a $600,000 contract at the agency without 'any documentation', saying that he 'relied on his team' to check if procurement rules were followed. Berry has previously told the inquiry he was brought in to the public school building unit on a rate of $2650 a day to work on property transactions for schools earmarked for Chatswood, Westmead and Wentworth Point. Loading Berry began work on the contract about six weeks before it was approved, the ICAC heard. Darams questioned Manning on what he did to check procurement rules were being followed when engaging Heathwest. 'I would have relied on my team, and Mr [Erik] Maranik is part of my team, to go through that process,' Manning replied. Manning said he could not recall 'any documentation' that proper procurement processes were followed. He told the inquiry he 'had a conversation' to bring in Berry, and 'then he started'. 'We hadn't formalised it before he started,' Manning said. He told the inquiry the NSW Education Department did not have the skills to manage the property transactions for the planned schools, and Berry was brought in to identify 'logjams'.
The Age
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
The schools boss, the 120 messages and a multimillion-dollar contract
The inquiry was shown text messages from June 2017 in which Palassis wished Manning luck for his School Infrastructure job interview, and congratulated him when he got the role. 'Just had a call from Minister [Brad] Hazzard congratulating me on my new role,' Manning wrote. Palassis responded: 'Game. Set. Match. Well done buddy.' The pair met for drinks in September and messages shown reveal the pair were critical of Amy Brown, then a partner at the consultancy firm PwC. The inquiry has heard Brown had been in contact with Manning leading up to his interview, and had mentioned him as a potential candidate for the job to then-education minister Rob Stokes. Counsel assisting Jamie Darams SC asked Manning if the text messages showed there was a 'personality issue' between Palassis and Brown. Manning said he could not recall the issues and could not remember 'doing anything about it'. 'Is the reason you didn't do anything about it because you saw the whole tender process as a means to get Mr Palassis and his company engaged with School Infrastructure?' asked Darams, who at one point compared it to a Trojan horse. Manning replied: 'I don't remember anything of the sort.' Loading Under questioning, Manning conceded he should have declared his relationship with Palassis. 'Given this additional correspondence, you certainly should have been making it clear to people who were tasked with assessing whether contracts should go to Mr Palassis' company that you had a relationship with him,' Darams said. 'And as a matter of probity, transparency, all of that should have been declared, do you accept that?' Manning replied: 'Yeah, I do.' Later in the day, Manning was asked about another contract – for 'strategic communications' services – that was awarded to consulting firm Kathy Jones and Associates. That firm was paid about $9 million over six years, the inquiry has heard. The inquiry has previously heard Manning described Jones as his 'communications fairy godmother', a comment Manning said on Monday he may have made 'once or twice'. He told the inquiry that he should have declared his relationship with Jones. 'There were relationship issues I was having with the minister's office [in 2023], and I was using Kathy as a sounding board.' He told the inquiry Jones had helped him with personal issues in 2016, and that year she suggested the pair meet while they were both in London and they had Christmas lunch at Ormeggio in The Spit. On Monday morning, Manning was asked about another contract awarded to a long-time friend, Martin Berry, and his consultancy Heathwest Advisory. Darams took Manning through a briefing document to contract Berry for $596,250 to 'lead the property and accommodations teams' at the building unit in 2019. The inquiry has previously heard Heathwest did not submit a proposal or go through a competitive tender for the contract, and no conflict of interest was declared over the pair's relationship. Manning told the inquiry Berry began work on a $600,000 contract at the agency without 'any documentation', saying that he 'relied on his team' to check if procurement rules were followed. Berry has previously told the inquiry he was brought in to the public school building unit on a rate of $2650 a day to work on property transactions for schools earmarked for Chatswood, Westmead and Wentworth Point. Loading Berry began work on the contract about six weeks before it was approved, the ICAC heard. Darams questioned Manning on what he did to check procurement rules were being followed when engaging Heathwest. 'I would have relied on my team, and Mr [Erik] Maranik is part of my team, to go through that process,' Manning replied. Manning said he could not recall 'any documentation' that proper procurement processes were followed. He told the inquiry he 'had a conversation' to bring in Berry, and 'then he started'. 'We hadn't formalised it before he started,' Manning said. He told the inquiry the NSW Education Department did not have the skills to manage the property transactions for the planned schools, and Berry was brought in to identify 'logjams'.
The Age
05-06-2025
- Business
- The Age
Unravelling top schools unit's network of consultants and 1400 contingent workers
The former boss of the NSW government's school-building unit was in contact with the director of consulting firm Paxon in the lead-up to the group winning a multimillion-dollar contract with the agency, an anti-corruption probe has heard. The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption is holding public hearings into allegations about the conduct of Anthony Manning, who led School Infrastructure from 2017 until last year. The inquiry is probing claims that under Manning the public school-building unit engaged more than 1400 contingent workers at a cost exceeding $344 million. The ICAC has previously heard employees from rival major consulting firms were deeply embedded in School Infrastructure after it was established in 2017. On Thursday, the inquiry heard from Michael Palassis, the sole director and shareholder of Paxon Group, a finance and infrastructure consultancy. The inquiry heard that during 2017 Manning was in contact with Palassis about setting up a private business venture for the construction of an 'Australian Cancer Wellness Hospital' in China. Palassis said the pair had met several years before when they were working at Health Infrastructure on the Northern Beaches Hospital project. Manning was employed at Health Infrastructure from 2009 to 2017, and Paxon was advising on the viability of a public-private partnership on the northern beaches project. Within a few months of Manning starting as head of School Infrastructure in June 2017, the building unit awarded PwC and Paxon contracts which in combination were worth millions of dollars. On Thursday, counsel assisting Jamie Darams, SC, questioned Palassis about his involvement a proposal to build a hospital in China throughout 2017. Palassis said he recalled Manning approached him about doing work for a developer looking to build the hospital, and the inquiry showed Manning emailed Palassis about the project in July 2017.
Sydney Morning Herald
05-06-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Unravelling top schools unit's network of consultants and 1400 contingent workers
The former boss of the NSW government's school-building unit was in contact with the director of consulting firm Paxon in the lead-up to the group winning a multimillion-dollar contract with the agency, an anti-corruption probe has heard. The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption is holding public hearings into allegations about the conduct of Anthony Manning, who led School Infrastructure from 2017 until last year. The inquiry is probing claims that under Manning the public school-building unit engaged more than 1400 contingent workers at a cost exceeding $344 million. The ICAC has previously heard employees from rival major consulting firms were deeply embedded in School Infrastructure after it was established in 2017. On Thursday, the inquiry heard from Michael Palassis, the sole director and shareholder of Paxon Group, a finance and infrastructure consultancy. The inquiry heard that during 2017 Manning was in contact with Palassis about setting up a private business venture for the construction of an 'Australian Cancer Wellness Hospital' in China. Palassis said the pair had met several years before when they were working at Health Infrastructure on the Northern Beaches Hospital project. Manning was employed at Health Infrastructure from 2009 to 2017, and Paxon was advising on the viability of a public-private partnership on the northern beaches project. Within a few months of Manning starting as head of School Infrastructure in June 2017, the building unit awarded PwC and Paxon contracts which in combination were worth millions of dollars. On Thursday, counsel assisting Jamie Darams, SC, questioned Palassis about his involvement a proposal to build a hospital in China throughout 2017. Palassis said he recalled Manning approached him about doing work for a developer looking to build the hospital, and the inquiry showed Manning emailed Palassis about the project in July 2017.
