UPDATE: WA ombudsman Chris Field has resigned after 17 years of service, amid the state's corruption watchdog handing down its findings of serious misconduct.
UPDATE: Western Australian ombudsman Chris Field has resigned after the state's corruption watchdog claimed he has engaged in serious misconduct in failing to seek approval for his extensive travelling.
The Corruption and Crime Commission today tabled a 130-page report in parliament, over its findings in the investigation into Mr Field's alleged imprudent spending of public resources.
It comes after the CCC held a public hearing into his alleged misconduct, including Mr Field’s extensive overseas travel and use of state ombudsman staff.
In its report, the CCC claimed Mr Field did not seek the Premier’s approval for his travel and instead created a sham process within his office to approve the application on behalf of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI), of which he was president.
The CCC found Mr Field was derelict in his duties by failing to seek approval for leave of absence.
“The Commission respectfully recommends that Parliament consider establishing a bipartisan joint committee to oversee the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative Investigations,” the CCC report reads.
“It recommends that the functions of the Parliamentary Inspector of the Corruption and Crime Commission be expanded to include oversight of the Ombudsman and the Office of the Ombudsman Western Australia (OWA).
“The Commission has formed an opinion of serious misconduct in respect of Mr Field.”
Hours after the CCC report was published, Mr Field announced his intention to resign and review the findings through a statement released by his lawyers.
"I intend to seek consideration by the Parliamentary Inspector regarding whether the final stage of the process afforded me proper procedural fairness and whether the two adverse findings based on that process are fair and sustainable," he said in his statement.
"But notwithstanding this intention, it is with deep regret that the publication of the final report in this form means I can no longer serve in the Office of Ombudsman of Western Australia as I have for the last 17 years.
"I intend to submit my resignation to the state governor later today."
In his statement, Mr Field claimed there was a denial of proper procedural fairness in the final stages of the commission hearings.
"There has been no finding of serious misconduct by the commission in regard to my travel, which was the essential and original basis for the conduct of the public examinations," he said.
"The final report however, does contain two remaining and ultimate findings against me, in circumstances where I was not able to make submissions to the commission regarding the legal basis for one of these findings before the final report was tabled in parliament at 9am today."
The ombudsman oversees the public sector administrative decision and individuals who may be affected from the process.
Mr Field was appointed as the WA ombudsman in March 2007, and was reappointed to the role for a further five-year term in early 2022.
“The commission acknowledges the significant service to the state by Mr Field during successive terms of office,” the CCC report reads.
“It acknowledges also that Mr Field was not motivated by greed or personal gain. This report is likely to be devastating to him personally.
“Mr Field asserted he was acting within his functions in utilising state funds for matters falling outside his statutory functions.
“Yet the evidence reveals that he acted in arrogant disregard of his functions under the Parliamentary Commissioners Act 1973.”
Former attorney-general Christian Porter acted as Mr Field's legal counsel in the CCC inquiry, which took place in February and April.
Conflict of interest
The CCC also claimed there has been a conflict of interest between Mr Field's state and international roles.
Mr Field is one of the state’s senior officers and is the country’s longest serving ombudsman after his reappointment in 2022.
He started his four-year term as president of the IOI in May 2021, being the first Australian to be elected in the role in the organisation’s history.
In its report, the CCC said the conflict arose when Mr Field started approving actions and using state funds and resources to gain a benefit for the IOI.
"As noted earlier, Mr Field made no attempt to hide his travel; quite the contrary. No one in government had questioned or drawn concerned attention to his travel," the report reads.
"The annual report for 2022-23 contained the first comprehensive account of international travel by Mr Field. It immediately attracted media interest."
A travel costs breakdown for the 2022-23 year, calculated by the OWA, found $223,429 of the $266,670 spent was related to international travel by Mr Field and his colleague, public officer Rebecca Poole.
In the report, the CCC said no conflict of interest would have arisen if Mr Field took annual leave and travelled at his own expense.
"Of course, an Ombudsman is free to become IOI President. That is a matter of celebration, as then-Premier [Mark] McGowan acknowledged in a letter of congratulations," the commission said in its report.
"Due to Mr Field's views about independence of his office and the non-compliance with the Premier's Circular on travel, there is no evidence that Mr McGowan ever knew that his IOI presidential duties would be carried out with state funds. Mr Field never met him.
"Mr Field's conflict of interest between his presidency and the OWA was irreconcilable. Arguably, Mr Field had a pecuniary interest in the OWA funds used to fund travel as IOI president."
The CCC also found Mr Field entered into a €129,640 contract with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for a scan survey to be conducted but no procurement process was undertaken.
Mr Field tried to deceive Treasurer Rita Saffioti by creating a memorandum that had falsehoods, the CCC said in its report.
The commission found Mr Field tried to mislead the Senior Assistant Ombudsman Operations and the chief financial officer to approve payment of the OECD Invoice by creating and providing the procurement memorandum.
Despite this, the CCC said Mr Field had genuine belief in his actions albeit reckless.
“Mr Field's actions were reckless because he never sought legal advice regarding his decisions and acted on his own counsel in interpreting legislation,” the report reads.
“If he considered there may be a conflict of interest, he made no record as to why he could continue to act.”
Responses
Deputy ombudsman David Robinson confirmed Mr Field advised OWA staff he had tendered his resignation to the governor, effectively immediately.
Mr Robinson told Business News the OWA would take on board the lessons learnt from the CCC investigation, despite the report focusing on specific actions of two senior officers.
"We support the recommendation to enhance the parliamentary oversight of the Office. Noting that the adoption of this recommendation is a matter for parliament to consider," he siad.
"The Office of the Ombudsman has a team of 92 people who are dedicated to maintaining the highest level of integrity and accountability across everything they do.
"We will continue to take a best practice approach to independently investigating and resolving complaints about public authorities on behalf of the state parliament and all West Australians."
At a press conference this morning and before Mr Field announced his resignation, Premier Roger Cook said the CCC's finding of serious misconduct was a very serious allegation.
"It is important that the that the ombudsman now takes the opportunity to provide certainty and confidence to the people of Western Australia and significantly reconsider his position," Mr Cook said.
"We will now need to look at the report in detail and craft an appropriate response for the government. We have a number of mechanisms available to us, but I think the ombudsman himself should reflect on these findings and take the appropriate course of action.
"It doesn't get more serious than that in relation to the findings of the conduct of a public sector worker, so we would expect the ombudsman to take the appropriate course of action."
