Trainee mechanics at the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) have been using electric vehicles (EVs) from car hire companies, including Hertz, pulling them apart and putting them back together without the company knowing, the ACT Legislative Assembly has heard.
Independent MLA Thomas Emerson used parliamentary privilege to make the claims of professional misconduct against the Electric Vehicle TAFE Centre of Excellence.
Mr Emerson tabled documents and read a statement of alleged facts provided to him by a whistleblower, who claimed that the training centre at CIT was struggling to obtain electric vehicles for the trainees to work on.
The whistleblower alleged that instead, the centre had hired EVs from car hire company Hertz, without telling the company what the vehicles were being used for.
"These documents contain a public interest disclosure from a Canberra Institute of Technology employee, alleging that CIT's Electric Vehicle Centre of Excellence has been training unqualified students using private hire cars in companies like Hertz, pulling elements apart and putting them back together without telling the hire car companies," Mr Emerson told the assembly.
"No procurement process, no testing and tagging, no safety assurance. The electric vehicles were invoiced as travel expenses, and the hire car company was never advised that their vehicles had been used for mechanical training, high-voltage battery work, and de-powering and re-powering."
Mr Emerson went on to tell...
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