The chief executive of the Canberra Institute of Technology has rejected "offensive" allegations that unqualified students pulled apart hire electric vehicles, which were revealed in a whistleblower disclosure.
On Wednesday, the ACT Legislative Assembly heard a public interest disclosure from a CIT staff member alleged the Electric Vehicle Centre of Excellence was allowing students to pull apart and put together private hire cars from companies such as Hertz, without the businesses' knowledge.
CIT chief executive Margot McNeill told ABC Canberra on Thursday only one rental car had been used by the training centre.
"There was a vehicle that was a hire vehicle, primarily used for transportation ... between campuses, and that was used [for] a demonstration purpose, for example, showing the safety features between it and one of the vehicles that was going to be worked on," she said.
"This particular unit, which is very prescriptive in our nationally accredited training programs, the students have to be able to observe different types of safety systems.
"There's no way that vehicles were being taken apart because that's just against all of our risk profile."
Dr McNeill said CIT "categorically rejects" the allegations" that were "factually incorrect".
"Quite honestly, they're offensive to our wonderful staff and students," she said.
She said a preliminary investigation, which began in January 2026 after the allegations were made to her office, was almost complete.
A CIT spokesperson previously said the EV course was only available to professionals in the industry with existing qualifications.
Independent member Thomas Emerson read out the whistleblower's public disclosure statement to the assembly on Wednesday afternoon as he called for stronger protections for public informants.
His motion was supported by the ACT government, but Chief Minister Andrew Barr slammed his attempt to publish the tabled public interest disclosure statements.
ACT Skills Minister Michael Pettersson said he was made aware of the allegations in April and had engaged with Mr Emerson since.
The matter will return to the assembly for further debate on Thursday afternoon.
Hertz has been contacted for comment.
More to come.
