Tuesday, August 05, 2014

TasWater Consultant Outrage

TasWater has spent $1.1 million on consultants in the past year, say a union representing the water corporation’s employees.

Releasing the figures today, Professionals Australia said they were contained in a leaked TasWater budget document.

Professionals Australia state director Luke Crowley described the spending as outrageous.

He said it had angered many staff who worked hard to ensure the state’s water was properly managed.

“We are extremely concerned to see such reckless spending when there is almost universal acknowledgment that TasWater’s restructure is fundamentally flawed,” he said.

“In June, we discovered that TasWater had paid $280,000 to two organisations to do senior recruitment and interviews.

“Now this new information shows that TasWater has paid almost half a million dollars to Marchment Hill to design a new structure for TasWater.”

The document shows six companies appear to have been paid for consultancy services in the past 12 months.

A TasWater spokesman told the Mercury the company was verifying the validity of the leaked document and would be preparing a formal response.

The release of the information comes as TasWater and field employees remain deadlocked over new pay negotiations.

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