Western Power rocked by second sexual assault claim

Western Power’s workplace culture will be put under the microscope after Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson revealed her office had fielded a “very credible” historic sexual assault complaint from a former employee.Energy minister Amber-Jade Sanderson. Photo Ross SwanboroughThe utility’s staff were recently asked about the culture at the organisation following the conviction of former employee Jeffrey Spinner, 59, for raping a colleague during a work trip in 2024.Several of Spinner’s colleagues who provided glowing character references to help have his prison sentence reduced have been stood down from their roles pending a review.Sanderson and Western Power chief executive Gair Landsborough revealed, since announcing the internal review, they had been inundated with complaints from staff and former employees about the culture that ranged from minor to very serious, including the new sexual assault claim.Sanderson said the new complaint came through to her office and showed the Spinner case was not an outlier.“The recent reported case was not an outlier. It’s unusual, but the fact that we’ve now had another serious allegation presented to us from a former Western Power employee – a very credible complaint – we’re taking this very, very seriously,” she said.Jeffrey Spinner.Sanderson declined to provide further details about the complaint but said it had not been taken to police and her office had taken advice from the Sexual Assault Resource Centre to help support the woman who no longer works at Western Power.An independent review into Western Power’s workplace culture will be launched, to be headed up by workplace culture advisory Intersection and led by founder Natasha de Silva and former Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins.Jenkins led the inquiry into Parliament House in 2021 after Brittany Higgins first alleged she had been raped in the building.“They bring extensive experience to the process, and there are probably not any more qualified people in the country than these two women,” Sanderson said.Sanderson said the complaints streaming in revolved mostly around bullying and misconduct and, while most of them were historic, it did not matter.“As a state-owned utility, I expect the highest standard of Western Power. The standard has not been met,” she said.“This review is a line in the sand. It is an opportunity for current and former employees of Western Power to be heard and to have their voices heard.“It will deliver real change, and it will deliver safety for all Western Power workers.”Landsborough said to date none of the complaints received have required alerting WA Police or the Corruption and Crime Commission.“The general themes of what’s coming out are historical experiences within Western Power, particularly around bullying and potential misconduct, which is just not acceptable and needs to be improved,” he said.“Some of them are under investigation now to see if any action needs to be taken by Western Power.”The review will take six months from September.Spinner’s conviction and the good character references triggered the Cook government to expand its planned ban of good character references in child abuse cases to now include all criminal convictions.Law firm Minter Ellison is conducting an investigation into the employees and the good character references, which were criticised by Sanderson.It is not unlawful to provide good character references.Sanderson and Landsborough would not reveal what, if anything, the employees did wrong but said they would await the outcome of the investigation, due by the end of the week.“The investigation isn’t a legal proceeding. It’s an investigation into workplace conduct and the conduct of those employees and I wouldn’t like to speculate the outcome of that investigation. It’s ongoing,” Landsborough said.Hamish Hastie is WAtoday's state political reporter and the winner of five WA Media Awards, including the 2023 Beck Prize for best political journalism.Connect via X or email.From our partners