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Western Australia’s elections boss will sit down with the recruitment agency tasked with hiring workers for the trouble-plagued 2025 election to discuss its involvement in upcoming polls.
Acting WA Electoral Commissioner Dennis O’Reilly fronted a parliamentary committee on Wednesday morning, where he lamented the issues that tarnished public trust in the election and resulted in a special probe by former WA governor Malcolm McCusker.
The boss of the electoral commission answered questions about the WA election.Credit: Colin Murty
O’Reilly said using recruitment company Persol to source the bulk of the temporary workforce was an “interesting model” not used in other states.
“In other jurisdictions, they actually work for the commission itself. In this particular model, the temporary work workers actually worked or were employed by Persol, and that’s been a bit challenging, too.
“I think whilst Persol are doing their absolute best in that regard, I think one of the strengths that we have with temporary work is that there’s a little bit of prestige or about working for the commission itself and I think that’s a really important point to make.”
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Persol secured the contract worth up to $86 million to operate the 2025 state and local government elections, as well as options to run the 2027 local government election and the 2029 state election.
When asked about the future of that contract, O’Reilly said both the WAEC and PersolKelly – which recently changed its name to Persol – were “reflecting” on the election.
O’Reilly said he would sit down with the company after next month’s local government elections were finished to “maturely and responsibly, just have a good open discussion”.
“This has got to be good business for both the commission for the community, and also Persol themselves, and they need to think about, is this the right business opportunity for them as well?” he said.
“I look forward to having those conversations at the right time.”
The McCusker inquiry found Persol recruited the number of temporary election workers it was asked to by the commission, which tasked the company to source 3000 fewer workers than it had at the 2021 poll.
Following the release of the inquiry, WA Nationals leader Shane Love called for the government to tear up the contract with Persol.
O’Reilly, a long-time public servant who was brought into the role after Commissioner Robert Kennedy took personal leave following the election, also queried the level of detail that had backed the decision to hire Persol.
“Having managed many sort of contracts across government a number of years, I would have expected to see a much more comprehensive value for money proposition, and having that really clearly documented,” he said.
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“In my view, I thought that was light on to make such a significant decision at that particular point in time.”
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