DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY
INDUSTRIES AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT —LOW CARBON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
480. Hon PETER COLLIER to
the Minister for Regional Development:
My question is asked on behalf of Hon
Tjorn Sibma.
I refer to the answer the minister
provided to the house yesterday that the director of the company Low Carbon
Australia Pty Ltd identified by the minister as Ms Tristy Fairfield, the
beneficiary of a $249 999 contract from the minister's department, was
neither a current nor an ex-employee of the Department of Primary Industries
and Regional Development.
(1) Does the
minister stand by that answer?
(2) Can the
minister explain why Ms Fairfield claims on her LinkedIn account to have worked
as the manager of carbon farming at the Department of Primary Industries and
Regional Development from April 2019 until the present day?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
The answer is as follows.
(1) Yes, I am
advised that Ms Fairfield is not employed as a public servant.
(2) In 2019, the
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development engaged Ms Fairfield
under a common-use agreement with Integrity Personnel to provide technical
advice and support in the development of the
state policy on human-induced regeneration carbon farming. In February 2020,
DPIRD issued a tender for specialist technical advisory services on
carbon farming for a period of 12 months to assist in the development of a strategy
to identify opportunities for third party investment. Low Carbon Australia Pty
Ltd was successful in this competitive tender. In both instances, Ms Fairfield
is providing support on the technical aspects of the work under the leadership
of the executive director. The title of manager carbon farming is used to
assist in stakeholder communications on these matters only and the position
does not currently exist as an established position within the DPIRD structure.
Ms Fairfield's expertise has been instrumental in progressing, finally,
carbon farming initiatives in Western Australia.