The head of the authority that issues permits for working with children in New South Wales has been sacked after intervening to lift a ban despite a significant conflict of interest.<\/p>\n
Steve Kinmond was removed as the children’s guardian on Wednesday after an inquiry found he failed to disclose his frequent contact with a person whose interim bar he overturned.<\/p>\n
The probe found Mr Kinmond overruled staff at the Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) and acted against internal legal advice by granting the individual a Working with Children Check (WWCC) clearance.<\/p>\n
According to a report tabled in parliament, Mr Kinmond had frequently contacted the person for about a year, sending more than 350 text messages, making six hours of phone calls, and meeting at least once in person.<\/p>\n
The report by Kate Eastman SC described his conduct as a “significant transgression of appropriate and proper boundaries” that risked harming the interests of the WWCC applicant and the integrity of the OCG.<\/p>\n
Mr Kinmond was also found to have failed to declare a conflict of interest arising from a “close personal relationship” with a person who works as a consultant for organisations delivering services to children and young people.<\/p>\n
‘Failed to meet the most basic standards’<\/p>\n
In March, Minister for Families and Communities Kate Washington ordered the inquiry into the workplace culture of the OCG after allegations were made.<\/p>\n
These included an anonymous complaint about a baby shower at an OCG workplace where “sperm-themed and inappropriate” games reportedly took place.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kate Washington ordered the inquiry into the workplace culture of the OCG after allegations were made. (ABC News: Timothy Ailwood)<\/p>\n
The inquiry found although some attendees experienced “distress and discomfort”, others did not, and there was no breach or misconduct justifying the sacking of anyone involved.<\/p>\n
Ms Eastman found some of the “colourful allegations” reported in the media were unverified and incorrect but did not indicate which claims were wrong.<\/p>\n
The findings about the event have been kept in a confidential annexure to the report, with the investigator deciding the information was not in the public interest to release.<\/p>\n
Mr Kinmond did not attend the baby shower, nor was he aware of it. But the inquiry found his handling of the anonymous complaint about the event was “inept” and “failed to meet the most basic standards”.<\/p>\n
The ABC was unable to reach Mr Kinmond for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Workplace ‘fragile and fractured’<\/p>\n
Mr Kinmond was also found to have disrespected Ms Washington by circulating a sensitive letter to all staff without the minister’s consent.<\/p>\n
The culture of the workplace was found to be “fragile and fractured” and lacking “psychological safety”, but blame was not ascribed to any particular person.<\/p>\n
The inquiry found First Nations employees were especially at risk due to substandard “cultural confidence and cultural safety”.<\/p>\n
Mr Kinmond stood aside ahead of the inquiry, for which 70 current and former staff were interviewed and 97 submissions received.<\/p>\n
Ms Washington told parliament Mr Kinmond was removed from his office by the Lieutenant-Governor of NSW for “misbehaviour”.<\/p>\n
“While this is a regrettable outcome, it is clearly the only reasonable course of action following such serious findings,” Ms Washington said.<\/p>\n
The minister thanked the staff at the OCG for their commitment and service “during this difficult time”.<\/p>\n
Ms Kinmond was appointed children’s guardian in January 2023 and his dismissal comes about halfway through the five-year term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of the authority that issues permits for working with children in New South Wales has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,5315,44,2733,91560,91561,91559,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-132117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-investigation","tag-news","tag-nsw","tag-nsw-childrens-guardian","tag-removed","tag-steve-kinmond","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}