Carenne Support tender should be torn up: DET official

A high-level DET official has told Carenne Gate that the corrupt organisation at the centre of the Carenne Gate saga, Carenne Support should have its tender under the Assisted School Travel Program torn up for a number of reasons.

The official told Carenne Gate that one of the key aspects of the tender was being able to comply with the Department of Services Technology and Administration's Business Ethics Statement.

"It is critical for suppliers to the state government to be able to comply with the BES, one of the key aspects of this is declaring any conflicts of interest. The tender submitted by Carenne Support has a letter claiming that they use the funds from their bus service to fund therapy services at Carenne Public School but this isn't considered by them to be a conflict of interest," said the official.

Whistleblowers at Carenne School say that there was a large conflict of interest in the process as Terry Mahony, one of Carenne Support's directors was a principal of the school and knew details of other operator's runs including what they were paid. The whistleblowers also claim that David Graham, who was given the task of preparing the tender couldn't do it and it was instead done by Helen Windsor, Carenne School's administration manager.

According to the DET official, if Helen Windsor did complete the tender there would be a massive conflict of interest. "A DET employee putting in the tender for a contractor is a serious breach of the departmental code of conduct and the contractor or proposed contractor's tender should be thrown out."

The official also claims that Carenne Support's tender should be invalidated because Carenne Support has a history of unethical conduct. "This is an organisation directed by someone who leaks personal information on this blog, someone who attacks whistleblowers in the street, who stole vehicles from the local community and who has put in false pay claims."

The official told Carenne Gate that despite Carenne Support being ineligible to tender that he believed it would be offered a contract. "Organisations such as TRAILS and Carenne Support can do what they like because they are school-based charities. The department thinks because our people run them they are clean but most of the time they are not,"

The tender process is expected to run through the early part of 2011. Carenne Gate will keep in touch with the official and report on what happens.