THE NSW Ombudsman has released a scathing report into the University of Newcastle and its refusal to reveal the size of cash bonuses paid to senior executive staff.
The report is the latest chapter in a two-year battle waged by The Herald under freedom of information (FoI) laws to reveal publicly where, and on what basis, the university awards taxpayer-funded bonuses.
The Ombudsman's report, handed down yesterday, found that the university had "acted contrary to law", had been consistently "unreasonable" in its handling of The Herald's requests, had provided "inadequate statements" to The Herald and "failed" to comply with requests made by the Ombudsman's Office.
In a statement issued late yesterday, university Vice-Chancellor Nick Saunders said he was "astounded" by the Ombudsman's findings.
"If the Ombudsman's office is seeking to change legislation or regulations, then it should formally refer its concerns to the appropriate government bodies rather than try to make an example of the University of Newcastle by use of FoI legislation," Professor Saunders said.
In March 2007, Herald journalist Matthew Kelly lodged FoI requests for details of the bonuses paid by the university to 10 senior executives in 2006, and the basis on which the performance bonuses were paid to each executive officer.
In response, the university issued 35 pages of documents that had been mostly blacked out with a heavy marker pen.
Subsequent requests resulted in the university issuing a further 248 pages of documents, the majority of which had been heavily censored.
In May last year, the Ombudsman launched a formal investigation into the university's handling of The Herald's request.
In his final investigation report, the Ombudsman said: "This office is of the view that the release of the documents would, on balance, be in the public interest".
Despite the findings, Professor Saunders refused yesterday to release the information originally requested, saying he believed the university had complied with the FoI act.
"The report acknowledges that the university has not contravened existing regulations regarding remuneration reporting," Professor Saunders said.
He said the university would again release to The Herald a document setting out salary bands and performance percentages without individual staff members' details.
But the Ombudsman has already ruled that such a document would be inadequate.
In his statement, Professor Saunders said the university would review its privacy management plan in light of the Ombudsman's recommendations and strive to improve how it deals with FoI applications.
The matter is now likely to proceed to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal.
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