Tasmania's Premier has allowed a culture of nepotism to fester in the state's public service, Labor and the Greens say, with Will Hodgman himself agreeing measures to remedy it had "not been good enough" and more needs to be done.
A scathing report from Tasmanian auditor-general Rod Whitehead, released this week, found conflicts of interest in the appointment of senior public servants had not been reported or managed.
The findings follow several other warnings from the auditor-general and the state's Integrity Commission to act on misconduct in the public service.
Mr Hodgman said he agreed some processes within the public service were not up to scratch.
"There are obviously processes that are substandard, we accept that," he said.
But Mr Hodgman could not explain why he had not acted sooner.
"There have been improvements, but [they are] not good enough, the job now is to get on with fixing those [issues]."
In 2014, an auditor-general's report into the recruitment practices in the State Service warned about inadequate processes.
"Selection processes tested had not identified a means to declare a conflict either explicitly or implicitly. Instead, the conflict of interest process relied on self-disclosure by panellists or candidates and there was inconsistency in how these disclosures were made," the report found.
Culture concerns date back years
In 2015, the departing head of the Integrity Commission said Tasmanian public servants were escaping prosecution because the Government was complacent.
"I fear that such complacency and naivety will in the future prove to have given the 'green light' to corruption in this state," Murray Kellam said at the time.
Last year, the Integrity Commission warned more needed to be done to stop misconduct in the state's public service.
"There's situations where some agencies don't have a conflict of interest policy or where they do, they're not being appropriately managed or maintained," acting Integrity Commission chief executive Michael Easton said at the time.
Labor MP Scott Bacon said Mr Hodgman had a history of inaction.
"This is a premier who has been in now for nearly four years. Of course, the culture of the public service comes from the Premier ... down."
But Mr Bacon said the Opposition would not at this stage commit to a wider review of the public service.
Greens leader Cassy O'Connor said Mr Hodgman needed to take responsibility for what happened in the state service.
"There's a culture of dishonesty and secrecy that's come from the top, a culture of not taking accountability seriously," she said.
The auditor-general's report has prompted a governance expert to call on the Tasmanian Government to set up a taskforce to examine how widespread the issue of nepotism is in the public service.
