This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A sensitive report into the government’s handling of a car crash that prompted the resignation of controversial Western Australian politician Troy Buswell has been released after a 10-month battle under freedom of information laws.

But information relating to the “health and wellbeing of government officers” was redacted. In a cover letter, the director general of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Peter Conran, warned the redaction removed much of the context for the report’s conclusions.

Buswell resigned from the front bench of Colin Barnett’s government on 10 March, 2014, two weeks after crashing his ministerial car into three parked cars and the gatepost of his Subiaco home while returning from a wedding early on 23 February.

He later pleaded guilty to 11 driving offences, including three counts of failing to stop at the scene of an accident, and was fined and disqualified from driving.

The WA government maintained that no one knew about the incident except Buswell and his chief-of-staff, Rachel Turnseck, until 9 March, when they received calls from Seven News and the West Australian.

Buswell tendered his resignation to Barnett hours later, before Seven News broke the story.

Turnseck, who was widely criticised for not reporting the damage to Buswell’s car until the media got wind of the story, resigned three weeks later, despite being cleared of misconduct by an internal investigation.

The redacted report of that investigation was released under freedom of information laws on Monday, after the WA opposition leader, Mark McGowan, successfully appealed against an attempt by the Department of Premier and Cabinet to suppress the information.

The report, written by Conran, said Turnseck was “justified” in not reporting the damage to Buswell’s ministerial car, for reasons which were redacted.

“I am completely satisfied that Ms Turnseck considered she had an overriding responsibility to ensure Mr Buswell’s health,” it said.

“In my opinion Ms Turnseck acted correctly.”

Barnett said at the press conference announcing Buswell’s resignation from the ministry that Buswell had suffered a “breakdown” and was receiving specialist mental health treatment in Sydney.

According to a PerthNow report from the time, Barnett said Turnseck told him on 24 February that Buswell had suffered a breakdown and needed to take personal leave. She did not mention damage to the car.

“I knew Troy had been out the night before,” Barnett was reported as saying. “I was not prying into the particulars. My concern was about his care and welfare.

“He is a brilliant person; [he has] an enormous capacity for work. Unfortunately, he’s also got a serious health issue.”

Barnett announced the outcome of the report in April, but Conran resisted its release.

In his report, Conran said it was “easy to argue” that Turnseck should have reported the damage before the media did so. However, he said it was “obvious that there was no attempt to cover up the damage” because Buswell’s car was still parked at his Subiaco address.

The report included a separate summary of interviews conducted by the department director, Robert Kennedy, who said Turnseck had committed a transgression “at the very lowest end of the disciplinary scale” and should be counselled. Conran disagreed, saying “it would be a travesty if I were to conclude that, given the circumstance, Ms Turnseck acted inappropriately”.

In a cover letter he asked to be released with the report, Conran said he was concerned the information commissioner’s decision to release the report would change the way internal department investigations were conducted. He said participants would in future have to be warned that anything they said might be released.

“I wish it to be noted that I continue to hold significant concern that the release of this type of information will adversely impact on the willingness of public sector employees to cooperate fully and frankly with voluntary inquiries on disciplinary matters in the future,” he said.

The car crash was the final straw of Buswell’s scandal-ridden nine-year political career, which included snapping the bra strap of a Labor staffer in 2006, sniffing the chair of a female staffer when he was opposition leader in 2008, and an affair with Fremantle Greens MP Adele Carnes in 2010.

He returned to parliament in May, after a public apology in which he detailed his history with bipolar and depression, then quit politics in September.