Sir Brian Roche: Public Service Commissioner on Andrew Coster's resignation

Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster resigned from his position as CEO of the Social Investment Agency following an Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report into how police handled complaints against former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said the result was 'appropriate', but shared positive experiences working with Coster. 

Roche told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "I believe him to be a person of integrity and very values-driven."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Afternoon. Former Police Commissioner Andrew cost has quit his role
as the boss of the Social Investment Agency. It follows
that damning IPCA report about how top police handled the
Gevin mcskimming allegations. In a statement, Andrew Costa says he's
prepared to take responsibility and that he got this wrong.
Sir Brian Wroach is the Public Service Commissioner and with
us Hi Brian good evening. So he's been paid one

(00:21):
hundred and twenty four thousand dollars. That's three months notice.
Nothing else, nothing else.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
He's been paid as contractoral entitlements three months in lit
of notice he left today.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Has the government had to pay any money to him
at all for ministers accusing him of corruption and to
cover up.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
No, this is a very clean process. It's taken longer
than some of us put of light. But this has
got the outcome which I believe appropriate. He has taken accountability.
He apologize the express regret he's lost his job. I'm
not sure what more we can expect.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Did he ask you to admit in a statement that
there was no corruptional.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Those were words that actually came from the IPCA, though,
are words important to him? And that's actually correct, and
so I had no discomfort actually restating them for completeness
because those things have mattered to him, and I was
happy with that.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah. So in that case, were the ministers wrong accusing
him of a cover up and corruption.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
I think ministers are best able to explain that. In
my context, I wasn't looking at him. He was an
employee of me, of mine. I had worked with him.
I have found him to be very honest, very straightforward.
So I've had none of those experiences of him. I
believe him to be a person of integrity and very
values driven.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Why did it take so long to get rid of him?

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Three weeks is not a long time in the scheme
of things. It was important that we did the process properly,
that we didn't give rise to undue legal risk. I'm
very comfortable with it. It's a very important process. It's
impactful on him his life in his career. I'm respectful
of the time required to get him to the position
we got him to.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Okay, if you found him honest, Brian, why do you.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Have to go Because I don't believe he is able
to conduct his job and meet the demands of the
chief executive of the Social Investment Agency, because there is
fairly or unfairly, there is doubt in people's minds as
to his ability to do their job. Eves of the
view that actually it would be impossible for him to

(02:27):
do it in the short term. So in discussions he
agreed it was the best thing for him and the
best thing for the agency, and he believes very strongly
in that agency and his purpose and he did not
want to put that at risk.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
All right, Brian, thank you as always for your time.
That Sir Brian Wroche, Public Service Commissioner. For more from
Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to News Talk sai'd
be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on
iHeartRadio