Rob Stefanic tells Senate he declared a conflict of interest over ‘close friendship’ with subordinate due to ‘gossip’
The Department of Parliamentary Services boss, Rob Stefanic, has denied having a romantic relationship with his then subordinate, telling Senate estimates he formally declared a conflict of interest only due to “gossip” and “rumour”.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Under questioning by senators, Stefanic said he made a formal declaration of conflict to the then Australian Public Service commissioner, Peter Woolcott, in regards to the personal relationship with Saunders in August 2022 but said there was no documentation of it to his knowledge.
“So, for the eight months where you were the manager in this relationship, how did you manage the conflict of interest within that eight-month period?” Pocock asked. Hume asked: “So you were declaring that others thought that there was a relationship, but there wasn’t one?”Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersStefanic, who took up the secretary role in December 2015, had worked with Saunders from December 2017 when she was employed as the chief operation officer.
“In rare circumstances, employees may need to consider changing roles within DPS or DPS may need to reassign the employee to other duties.”
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