Statement from the CIT Board Chair, Kate Lundy

The Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) welcomes the Special Report of the Integrity Commission regarding Operation Luna.

The executives mentioned in the report are no longer working at CIT. The CIT has a new executive who are guiding work on improving services to our students, staff and our learning community and are insourcing capability in CIT.

The CIT Board has recruited a new CEO for CIT, Dr Margot McNeill. This is an essential role for CIT and comes at a critical time after rebuilding capacity and focussing on governance, procurement, and financial processes. The recruitment process was a Nationwide search looking for the best person to lead CIT in the next stage of its journey.

Since mid-2022 and in accordance with the previous Ministers direction of 20 August 2022, the Board has been focussing on ensuring that CIT has more robust governance, financial and procurement policies, and processes. The Board has processes in place to ensure that Board approval is sought for procurements for goods and services over $1 million and procurements for consultancies of over $500,000.

There have been many improvements at CIT since 2022 including formation of a Board Governance and Nominations Committee, formation of a CIT Integrity Committee, implementation of a new Fraud and Corruption Policy and implementation of a new governance framework, just to name a few.

Moving forward, the CIT Board has released a new CIT strategic plan. The plan sets out an ambitious 10-year vision for CIT with a focus on “Skilling for the future, equipping you for life.”  At the heart of the plan is a focus on training that meets the needs of our students and community, today and into the future. Our vision is of teaching and learning that is leading edge and enhances student outcomes through innovative practices, technology, and facilities. To achieve this vision our people must be equipped, and our foundations must support the achievement of our vision.

The Board has shared the strategy with stakeholders and is looking forward to showing stakeholders what future focused teaching and learning will look like in the new state of the art CIT Woden campus which opened this week.

The CIT Board looks forward to the Integrity Commission’s final report to ensure that CIT has taken all required steps to improve its processes.

The Board would like to recognise the work of our staff and educators in improving governance, procurement, and financial management and for their unwavering support for our students.

Kate Lundy

Chair, CIT Board

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