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> Appointment of Business Development Manager
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> Virotec has appointed Mr Frank Gnanam as International Business Development Manager for the ViroSewage> (tm)> Division.
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> Mr. Gnanam, MBA B Tech Chem Engg CPE CE MIEAust MIChemE, is an experienced Business Developer who, between 1995-2002, had responsibility for the marketing, sales and business development activities for Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific whilst employed by BP Solar Australia (renewable energy) and Sulo Australia (solid waste management). Prior to this period Mr Gnanam has predominantly worked in specialist water and wastewater treatment companies, notably as Plant Manager with Sydney Water (1991-1994), managing the operations, maintenance and asset management of Sydney Water> '> s second largest STP. As a result, in addition to his experience in business development, Mr. Gnanam is well versed with equipment and technology used in the wastewater treatment industry.
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> Mr Gnanam is charged with developing a cash flow positive business from the ViroSewage> (tm)> Technology, initially in Australia with a view to the international market in due course.
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> http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA19930511015
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> At the time the honourable member for Blacktown raised specific allegations pertaining to the management of the board's largest sewage treatment plant, North Head, she revealed there were as many as three consultants to every one plant employee! Gilbert and Sullivan would have rejected such an outlandish scenario. Eighteen months ago the Opposition outlined to this House the hotspots in the Water Board; it showed the way; it was the troubleshooter but this Government did nothing. The Government denied everything, and all this time it has been business as usual at North Head. Mismanagement of that plant is now so bad that I have written to the Independent Commission Against Corruption detailing allegations of corrupt practice that have been brought to the attention of the Opposition.
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> The Opposition has had a substantial matter corroborated by private citizens not employed by the Water Board, and honourable members should not forget that the Government was warned, and had the opportunity to move in at North Head and clean up the mess. Following the urgency motion moved by the honourable member for Blacktown, the plant's sewage treatment manager, Frank Gnanam, had all delegations withdrawn, that is, authority to spend or approve spending withdrawn after the matters raised in this House. However, he remained as plant manager. From 24th July last year he could not sign a leave form, an overtime claim or a purchase voucher but he could direct his staff to do so. In the past 18 months under his management nine conference rooms have been built at the North Head sewage treatment plant. It has more conference rooms than the Hilton Hotel. The National Party is going to hold its State conference there.>
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> Nine conference rooms and an obsolete two-storey first aid centre have been built at the plant. Nine conference rooms at a sewage treatment plant for the use of the consultants. Two, the red and blue conference rooms - each has its name - have just been completed at a cost of more than $60,000 under the guise of refurbishment of existing facilities. Nine conference rooms at a plant whose only job is to treat sewage and to dispose of the city's effluent! The conference facilities, which are used by the board of the Water Board at various times are, I am told, left unused. What a joke at the public's expense! What a dreadful prank played on the New South Wales taxpayers! In addition to nine conference rooms at a sewage treatment plant, a two-storey medical centre has been built - pristine, entirely empty and unused. The centre has no medical staff, no patients - never had one - and no equipment. A two-storey medical centre has been built although a major hospital is just down the road. A plant with a solid safety record has been provided with a two-storey medical centre, which, I am advised by Water Board sources, fails basic fire regulations.
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> Photographs of the medical centre show that it is reminiscent of the award-winning hospital in "Yes Minister", which ran so efficiently without patients. Photographs of all but two of the conference facilities show some rooms were refurbished offices previously occupied by consultants, whose presence at the plant was exposed by the Opposition 18 months ago. Spending taxpayers' money to turn obsolete offices into obsolete conference space is a disgrace and an insult to the pensioners who are struggling to pay their water bills. Not one Minister has taken action about these matters, despite the Opposition's warnings in this House 18 months ago. I have a copy of a memo
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> from a senior Water Board officer to the sewage treatment manager at North Head, restoring some of his delegation. I cannot believe this step has been taken, given the details I have just revealed.
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> In his memo the senior officer states, "Based on recent experiences at North Head, I am not prepared at this present time to return any procurement delegation to you". Imagine what he would build if his delegations were returned to him. The obvious question is: why is this man still running the plant? And there is more, which is why I wrote to the Independent Commission Against Corruption. Government inaction makes it imperative. My submission to the corruption commission rests on the following questions: what was Mr Gnanam's involvement in the construction of the medical centre and the conference facilities? Did he request any work on supply requisitions, despite not having the financial delegation to approve them? Did Mr Gnanam direct staff to use their delegations to approve purchases in the absence of his own? Why was Darmac Interiors the favoured tenderer for the conference rooms and the medical centre? Did Mr Gnanam employ at the plant a consultant capital works manager, Mr Graham Marles - a person referred to by the honourable member for Blacktown 18 months ago?
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> Did Mr Marles, while in the full-time employ of the Water Board, act as overseer in the construction of Mr Gnanam's home in Sydney's northern suburbs? Was the board aware of Mr Marles's activities when he left its employ? Were plant staff directed to load a truck with plant items and told to deliver them to Mr Gnanam's home? Why did the cost of the conference rooms and the centre blow out by 50 per cent, despite a direction that there should be no extra expenditure? Were additional costs for these facilities itemised at less than $3,000 to avoid the three quotes a job rule? Did Darmac Interiors pick up most of the work on extras, totalling almost $9,000? Was this type of splitting of tender items the reason Mr Gnanam lost his delegation in July 1992? Why was Mr Gnanam permitted to continue to run the plant, despite his delegation being removed last July, following an internal Water Board audit? I have supplied support> ive documentation to the Independent Commission Against Corruption on these matters. That is just one of the serious matters requiring urgent investigation.
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> In the wider context is the maladministration of an essential community service. It is not a question of individual responsibility, but of government responsibility; not a matter for the ICAC, but for this House. This, then, is the grim picture which emerges: a Government and a board, one of the major instrumentalities of government, in irreconcilable conflict - the board against the Government - over the vital question of the third major dividend payment required of the board; a Government raiding the board's revenue; the board forced to respond by manipulating its assets; a Government and board equally confused about policy and priorities; at the top, consultants enjoying fees of staggering munificence; but, below, hundreds more facing retrenchment; staff morale devastated, as the consultants' reports record; admitted waste of $120 million a year; evidence of actual corrupt practice; ministerial failures of omission and commission; Ministers covering up their failures, and doing so in this House; a Government which has flouted the express instructions of this House to bring the board to book; and, overarching everything, a Government and a board which have given Sydney a 70 per cent increase in household water costs and, at the same time, the most expensive non-residential water in the world.
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> In March 1992, more than a year ago, this House gave the Government the chance to make a fresh start with the Water Board - a select committee to get to the bottom of all these problems and to co-operate with the Government in an effort to put the board's house in order. For its pains, the House has been ignored, and the Parliament spurned. Neither the relevant Ministers nor the board, nor the Government as a whole, should escape so easily this time. And, if they get off this time, there will be no next chance. None of those responsible for this crisis deserves a second chance.
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