Leanne Cover outside the ACT Courts earlier this year. Photo: Albert McKnight.
The former boss of the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) has lost the civil case she launched against the ACT Integrity Commission (IC) over its report that contained damaging findings against her.
Last year, an Integrity Commission Special Report for Operation Luna found former CIT CEO Leanne Cover was “guilty of serious corrupt conduct”.
The report related to her alleged actions regarding CIT contracts worth $8.5 million being awarded to consultant and “complexity and systems thinker” Patrick Hollingworth of Redrouge Nominees. No findings were made against Mr Hollingworth.
The IC said Ms Cover concealed a letter from the CIT board that had been sent from Skills Minister Chris Steel expressing concerns over the procurement process for the contracts.
The letter, sent in February 2021, asked for “advice on how these contracts represent value for money”.
Earlier this year, Ms Cover began to sue the commission in the ACT Supreme Court over the report, seeking declarations and relief from a judicial review.
She argued the report was affected by several errors of law and the commission failed to examine a potentially critical witness.
However, on Thursday (18 September), Justice David Mossop dismissed her case, finding no grounds of appeal were established and the IC’s decision to not examine the witness wasn’t unreasonable.
As part of her case, Ms Cover’s lawyers disputed the meaning of the words “serious corrupt conduct” and argued using the phrase meant the report was affected by an error of law, but this was rejected by Justice Mossop.
He said the definition of “serious corrupt conduct” started with the concept of “corrupt conduct”. He added the additional requirement that the conduct was “likely to threaten public confidence in the integrity of government or public administration”.
“The words mean what they say,” the judge said.
Meanwhile, during the hearings, both the Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly, Mark Parton, and the IC argued the report was a “proceeding in parliament” so was not allowed to be admitted into evidence.
They argued that if it was admitted evidence, it could be challenged in a way that was prevented by parliamentary privilege.
Ms Cover’s lawyers argued the report being tendered to the court had been published on the IC’s website, as opposed to the one presented to the Legislative Assembly, so it was not covered by this privilege.
If the report were covered by parliamentary privilege, that would mean it came with legal immunities.
But Justice Mossop found the report was admissible. He said parliamentary privilege did not apply to it because the commission was a separate statutory entity that was independent of the Legislative Assembly.
While the judge admitted the report into the proceedings, he still dismissed the case.
He also said that unless the parties agreed about legal costs, he would hear arguments on the matter on 29 September.
Afterwards, the IC released a statement noting Justice Mossop dismissed Ms Cover’s application for a judicial review.
“The court found that the commission had not erred in its application of the Integrity Commission Act 2018 (the Act) to its findings of serious corrupt conduct made against Ms Cover in its investigation, codenamed Operation Luna,” the IC said.
“The second aspect of the Operation Luna investigation was finalised and reported as Part Two Special Report, released 25 July 2025.
“This report also made findings of serious corrupt conduct against Ms Cover and another CIT employee.”
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