The Canberra Institute of Technology has called in an outside investigator to look into its program to teach students how to fix electric cars.
The probe will include whether assurances given earlier by the chief executive who is currently on leave were accurate.
The original claim was that the CIT's Electric Vehicle Centre of Excellence was allowing unqualified students to take apart and reassemble private hire cars from companies like Hertz without the businesses' knowledge. The allegation made by a member of the CIT staff was aired under parliamentary privilege by the independent member of the legislative assembly Thomas Emerson.
If true, the claim would have potentially devastating ramifications.
If, for example, the car tinkered with by an unqualified CIT student then went back to the unknowing hire company and an accident occurred to someone who then hired it, substantial legal liability could fall back on the CIT and, so, on the ACT taxpayer.
At the time, the institute's chief executive Margot McNeill said she "categorically rejects" that hired cars were used for training. She said she found the "factually incorrect" suggestion "offensive".
"There's no way that vehicles were being taken apart because that's just against all of our risk profile," she said. She added on the ABC that the CIT had hired one vehicle but it was used to carry people between campuses and for what she called a "demonstration purpose".
Dr McNeill has since gone on leave and the day-to-day running of the CIT has been taken over by the board.
Its chairman Thomas Rogers told MLAs in a session at the assembly that he was "aware of the messaging that was used".
"I'm aware of what the CEO said. I'm aware of what the allegations are and that's why we're looking at this in great detail," he said.
"We're taking this very seriously. We've had someone appointed from outside CIT, an appropriately qualified person, to review and look at this in detail.
"That process is going on right now because I am aware that that messaging needs to be very clear."
"I want to make sure that we understand exactly what occurred, how it occurred, and we're in the middle of that process right now."
This week, Mr Emerson asked in the assembly if the CIT chief executive's way of handling the matter at the time would be reviewed.
"Are you concerned that it wasn't more appropriately investigated internally?" the MLA asked Mr Rogers.
"The board's asked for this to be looked at in detail to make sure that we get all of those issues out on the table," the chairman of the CIT said.
Dr McNeill is currently on leave for undisclosed reasons. She has been embroiled in controversy since she began as the CIT chief executive in June 2025.
During the CIT recruitment process, she hadn't disclosed that she was under investigation by her previous employer, TAFE NSW. An ACT Legislative Assembly inquiry found she had "actively misled" the CIT board by denying the TAFE NSW investigation's finding of misconduct.
That investigation found she had breached the TAFE NSW code of conduct. It led to her resignation being changed to termination.
Dr McNeill is challenging this decision through legal proceedings in the NSW Supreme Court.
