Ernie Fleming has responded to a Victorian Ombudsman report that detailed his conduct at the helm of Bendigo South East College, claiming allegations he used his position for personal gain were unfounded, while also casting doubt over the credibility of the VO investigation.
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“The Ombudsman’s office has demonstrated its partisan approach to the inquiry by issuing a public statement using sensational language to attract media attention to its release,” Mr Fleming’s lawyer, David Schier said.
“It claimed that Mr Fleming ran the college as his “personal fiefdom” and then wholly failed to show, in its lengthy document where Mr Fleming benefited personally, financially or otherwise from the allegations so made.
“There is not one finding, despite a two year investigation and two audits ordered by the department, that Mr Fleming received the benefit of one dollar. The report entirely clears him of some of the main but now entirely discredited allegations that were made by the early anonymous complainants.”
Following a lengthy investigation, Ombudsman Deborah Glass upheld allegations that Mr Fleming misused his position by engaging and promoting his wife, Karen Fleming, and son, Adam Fleming, at the college.
The investigation also confirmed Mr Fleming “authorised and facilitated” conduct by Michael Bulmer, the school’s bus and charter coordinator, who misused his position to obtain, and attempt to obtain, private benefits for his own businesses, which was co-owned by another of Mr Fleming’s sons, Brandt.
The VO confirmed the education department’s North Western Victoria Region office received more than 20 complaints about Mr Fleming’s behaviour between August 2014 and February 2016, but its “failure to meaningfully investigate the complaints or take action to address Mr Fleming’s conduct enabled him to continue to engage in improper conduct with impunity”.
Mr Schier said the Department of Education had failed Ernie Fleming and the staff of the Bendigo South East College over many years in its governance of conflict of interests and associated complaints, according to the Ombudsman’s report.
“Mr Fleming has claimed throughout that he made full disclosure to senior officers of the department of conflict of interest issues and received the appropriate clearances,” he said.
“The report clearly found that such complaints were investigated at the time by department staff. An earlier independent report that was prepared for the department found that Mr Fleming was open in his dealings with staff and family members and that there was nothing insidious in relation to conflict of interest.”
Mr Fleming said the VO’s report was silent on a key issue being whether the educative values of the programs and subjects he pursued were not in the best interests of the students of BSE.
“You can read all the flowery and excitable language used in the report but you will not find one assessment where it claims that the education of the students has been affected in any way. It has not – to the contrary, it was immeasurably enhanced. The underlying theme that was paramount to me and the 130 staff during my principalship remains untainted by the report,” he said.
Mr Schier said Mr Fleming had made submissions to the Ombudsman with respect to the issues it raised but it was a serious waste of time and resources, describing it as not a transparent or accountable process.
“It has the procedural fairness of a police state. At no stage of the process did the office allow Mr Fleming access to all the relevant documentary material. It was selective as to what it disclosed and for the most part, only made available documents that lent support to its findings. On that basis, it is a false premise to base much credibility on its findings,” he said.
Acting principal Julie Robertson will remain in her position until the end of the year.
No long-term appointment was made at BSE following the latest round of principal recruitment, which closed recently.
A second recruitment round is expected to commence in the near future.
EARLIER The Victorian Ombudsman has delivered a scathing report into the conduct of former Bendigo South East College principal Ernie Fleming, finding he used his position to employ and promote family members and used “public funds as he saw fit”.
Following a lengthy investigation, Ombudsman Deborah Glass upheld allegations that Mr Fleming misused his role to hire and promote his wife, Karen Fleming, and son, Adam Fleming, at the college.
The investigation also confirmed Mr Fleming “authorised and facilitated” conduct by Michael Bulmer, the school’s bus and charter coordinator, who misused his position to obtain, and attempt to obtain, private benefits for his own businesses, which was co-owned by another of Mr Fleming’s sons, Brandt.
The VO confirmed the education department’s North Western Victoria Region office received more than 20 complaints about Mr Fleming’s behaviour between August 2014 and February 2016, but its “failure to meaningfully investigate the complaints or take action to address Mr Fleming’s conduct enabled him to continue to engage in improper conduct with impunity”.
The VO also found the regional office’s inaction, and a perception of its closeness to Mr Fleming, discouraged staff from coming forward with their concerns.
“The investigation found that for many years, Ernest Fleming ran the college as a personal fiefdom, employing and promoting family members, providing substantial benefits to his son’s business partner and companies owned by his son, and using public funds as he saw fit without consultation or approval from the college council,” Ombudsman Glass said in her report.
Related:
January, 2017: Principal on extended leave, department says
March, 2017: Parents petition minister for principal’s return
“His actions showed little regard for department policy, relevant legislation and regulations or for his obligations under the Code of Conduct to avoid conflicts of interest; use his power for authorised purposes; and uphold standards of honesty, integrity and financial probity.
“His conduct impacted the culture of the college and the careers of numerous past and current teachers and staff. Nepotism is particularly pernicious in rural and regional areas with fewer job opportunities.
“Mr Fleming is no longer employed by the department, which spares me the need to make the only recommendation I could in the circumstances.”
The report made no formal recommendations.
Mr Fleming resigned in May – almost 18 months after being temporarily stood down by the Department of Education and Training – as the investigation was coming to a close.
The VO found Mr Fleming also improperly hired his son, Adam Fleming, as a paid consultant from December 2013 to December 2014.
In December 2014, Ernie Fleming also appointed Adam Fleming as manager of the college’s specialist sports program, the Athlete Development Program (ADP), over a more qualified candidate.
Six weeks after he began the role in early 2015, without any documented process, his father gave him a backdated promotion increasing his annual salary by $7203, the VO found.
The investigation also found Mr Fleming’s wife was promoted to the role of Personal Assistant to the Principal despite there being no evidence she submitted a valid application.
The VO found Mr Fleming hired Michael Bulmer as regional bus coordinator in May 2013, making him responsible for booking bus charter work for the college, despite knowing that Mr Bulmer had a conflict of interest as the Business Development Manager at Bendigo Coachlines.
“This appointment allowed Mr Bulmer and his wife to channel college business to Bendigo Coachlines, a business the Bulmers went on to purchase with Brandt Fleming (Mr Fleming’s son) in June 2016 and to which they continued to direct college funds,” the report stated.
The VO found Mr Fleming was aware of numerous conflicts of interest in his dealings with Mr Bulmer, but did not declare them to the Regional Director of the North Western Region office as required.
“Despite this, he allowed the Bulmers to remain in charge of bus hire at the college and direct bus work to Bendigo Coachlines. Mr Bulmer and Brandt Fleming also purchased a travel agency in June 2016. Shortly after they purchased the company, Ernest Fleming and his wife booked two school excursions through the company at a cost of over $18,000,” the report stated.
“Mr Fleming also misled the college council by informing them of his son’s directorship of Bendigo Coachlines, but failing to disclose that Brandt Fleming was also an owner of the company. Nor did he disclose Mr Bulmer’s interest in the company – key information given Mr Bulmer’s role as bus and charter coordinator.”
The VO also found Mr Fleming and Adam Fleming used college resources to run the ADP, that misled parents and students into believing the program delivered the mandatory Health and Physical Education curriculum.
“Children graduating from the program – whose parents paid hundreds of dollars per year for them to participate – left the college without completing the mandatory curriculum all Victorian children are entitled to, and all schools are obliged to deliver,” the report stated.
The VO found the program ran at a deficit each year and Ernie Fleming used the college’s ‘contingency’ and ‘council development’ funds to cover the programs expenses, misleading others into believing there was sufficient money in these funds for the expenses.
Ombudsman Glass said her investigation “confirms the truth of the majority of allegations made against him, anonymously or otherwise”.
“Detailed concerns about his conduct were repeatedly raised with the regional office, which took no or little action, and must take some responsibility for the length of time this conduct was able to go on.
“The pattern appears to be that Mr Fleming responded to complaints with denial, belligerence and threats. He maintained that department conflict of interest policies were ambiguous, claimed that all his actions were in the best interests of the college, blamed an ‘unsanctioned’ and ‘orchestrated’ anonymous letter campaign making ‘false accusations’, and commented that he should have taken disciplinary action against these ‘agitators’.”
Education department to ‘learn from the process’
A spokesman for the Department of Education and Training acknowledged the VO’s findings in relation to its management of Mr Fleming and “will reflect on the issues identified to ensure we learn from this process”, adding it has complete confidence in its regional office.
“The department is confident that the steps the acting principals have taken at Bendigo South East College since the beginning of 2017 have addressed the issues identified in the report, and the school is well positioned to continue providing high quality education for Bendigo students,” he said.
The spokesman said since the issues with Mr Fleming occurred, the department has undertaken an extensive integrity reform agenda, which has addressed many of the issues raised in this report.
“The integrity reform agenda has seen more than 100 reforms to strengthen financial oversight, better manage conflicts of interest, help schools better understand their financial obligations and improve our ability to investigate allegations of wrongdoing,” he said.
“The department is confident that these reforms ensure that these issues would be dealt with more effectively in the future, and has complete confidence in its regional office.”
Ombudsman report ‘incredibly disappointing’
Bendigo East MP Jactina Allan described the VO’s report as a “pretty disappointing read”.
“It must be a difficult week for the Bendigo South East school community,” she said.
“It helps to address some of the issues and questions that have gone up until now unanswered in the local community about what was happening at that time and what was some of the reasons behind firstly the education department needing to stand aside the former principal, and he has subsequently made the decision to resign.
“There’s been a lot of claims, a lot of speculation, a lot of innuendo, a lot of that is now put to rest with the Ombudsman’s report that has been released today.”
Ms Allan said the VO’s report “does not paint a very good picture of what happened at the school during that period of time”.
“It’s incredibly disappointing,” she said.
Minister for Education James Merlino said: “I understand this will be a tough time for the school community. However, a number of measures have been put in place including a new acting principal to address the issues identified in the report.
“Our focus now is on ensuring the school is able to move forward from this and be well positioned to continue providing high quality education for Bendigo students.”
- With Adam Holmes
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