ICAC INQUIRY INTO NSW SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE

“NSW ICAC’s public hearings into alleged nepotism at School Infrastructure NSW (SINSW) have already been ... revealing a tangled network of players and payments.

This week will see the man at the centre of the investigation, former SINSW chief executive Anthony Manning, appear before ICAC, along with other star witnesses.“ (Dan Holmes)

Extract from ICAC: 

The ICAC is investigating whether, between 2017 and about 2024, then School Infrastructure NSW (SINSW) chief executive Anthony Manning and other SINSW staff or contractors partially exercised their official functions by:

• intentionally subverting appropriate recruitment practices to benefit friends and business associates

• improperly awarding contracts to friends and business associates

• misallocating funds from school projects to favour particular businesses and to fund consultancy positions for friends and business associates.

The ICAC is also investigating whether Mr Manning, …  and others, 

• dishonestly exercised their official function by taking reprisal action against certain staff following complaints or public interest disclosures at SINSW.

YOU CAN FOLLOW THE INVESTIGATION IN THE SMH (daily news) & ON ICAC’S WEBSITE: https://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/investigations/current-investigations/2025/school-infrastructure-nsw---operation-landan 

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/a-new-boss-his-buddies-and-a-2-6-billion-cash-splash-inside-the-icac-probe-into-school-infrastructure-20250603-p5m4ip.html

REMEMBER THE ORIGINALLY PROPOSED 1000-STUDENT MEGA-SCHOOL MODULE IN THE GREENSPACE? And wow, what a scaled-up school population for modest Lilyfield!

There are interesting details in the witness statements, including to school population data and the so-called DfMAs (modular school buildings): "Haque told the inquiry that in a 2021 meeting with Manning, he had been unhappy with falling population data and instructed her to “make it a higher number”. Haque alleged Manning told her to “change” the figures before a pre-budget submission, a demand she understood to be related to fears lower population numbers would make it harder to extract funding out of Treasury.”  One of Manning’s friends, Stuart Suthern-Brunt, founded the software company Arc for DfMAs. Hague reports: “HAQUE: …he [Stuart Suthern-Brunt] wanted to, to set up something, ah, like a company. That I understood – that did DFMA. He said that this was where the future was and …”. Arc was awarded lucrative contracts from SI. 

Fortunately, we were able to demonstrate, just in time, that our actual school population cycles were substantially below Si’s inflated population figures. 

See also SMH: the photos and files at the centre of the ICAC inquiry

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/no-secrets-in-there-the-photos-and-the-files-at-centre-of-icac-inquiry-20250603-p5m4mi.html

The above seems consistent with SI’s planning and delivery practices at Orange Grove Public School to date. Unfortunately, the current findings have yet to filter down to the lower ranks of SI, as the school community’s wishes continue to be disregarded, with insufficient interest in genuine collaboration. As a result, the so-called involvement of parent representatives has been reduced to a box-ticking exercise, with their recommendations routinely brushed aside.