Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

Sydney / New South Wales Transport Discussion
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boronia
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Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

Post by boronia »

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/pla ... 57ect.html

Former Virgin Australia and Tigerair executive Rob Sharp has been confirmed as the new Transport for NSW boss several months after the controversial axing of his predecessor Rodd Staples.

Mr Sharp was announced as the new Transport chief executive on Friday, almost two years after he stood down as Virgin Australia’s group executive amid a company restructure.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance, who was understood to be seeking an external candidate, said Mr Sharp was a proven chief executive with a strong record of success.

“Mr Sharp is the perfect person to lead the agency in a new direction with his experience in performing successful business turnarounds and transformational change,” Mr Constance said.

“Mr Sharp’s impressive skill set is underpinned by strategic thinking, digital innovation, logistics excellence and delivering large scale, complex projects.”

He will walk into a government agency with a $70 billion infrastructure pipeline in the midst of a prolonged restructure after it absorbed Roads and Maritime Services in 2019.

His predecessor Mr Staples was sacked without reason in November just weeks after receiving a positive performance review from Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

However, Mr Constance has since revealed he had grown frustrated with Mr Staples after he pushed back on a ministerial direction to clear millions of trees from all state-owned highways.

Mr Constance told Mr Staples to create a clearance zone of 40 metres either side of the highways after the Black Summer bushfires, which would have resulted in 104,000 hectares of land being cleared.

Documents indicated Mr Staples’ termination payment would be $837,584, which includes 38 weeks’ pay and his outstanding leave entitlements. His annual salary was $599,000.

Peter Regan, who had been acting chief executive since Mr Staples’ departure, has been named as the new boss of Sydney Metro just weeks after Jon Lamonte left.

“Mr Regan has an outstanding track record delivering major infrastructure projects for the people of NSW over the last 10 years,” Mr Constance said.

Mr Constance indicated earlier this year Mr Staples could make a return to the agency, though Friday’s announcement of the new Metro chief executive suggests that is increasingly unlikely.

Mr Sharp, who will start the job on April 7, said he was thrilled to join the agency with a renewed focus on technology and innovation.

He has sat on various boards and committees since his departure from Virgin in mid 2019.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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Living in the Shire.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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I wonder what happens with Howard Collins - Deputy Secretary perhaps? He's already acting in the role.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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Transtopic wrote: I wonder what happens with Howard Collins - Deputy Secretary perhaps? He's already acting in the role.
Back to where he came like most people who act in a role, but don't take it permanently.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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Linto63 wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:42 am
Transtopic wrote: I wonder what happens with Howard Collins - Deputy Secretary perhaps? He's already acting in the role.
Back to where he came like most people who act in a role, but don't take it permanently.
The Acting Secretary of Transport for NSW following Rodd Staples departure, Peter Regan, has been appointed CEO of Sydney Metro. That still leaves his former position open. Howard Collins' future role still hasn't been confirmed.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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Sure they will find something. If nothing on offer, sure he will leave with a nice golden parachute.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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Why? He is chief operations officer for Sydney, and was filling in temporarily - what’s wrong with his existing job?
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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That is the question. What is his existing job? Does he go back to Chief Executive of Sydney Trains where Suzanne Holden is currently shown as (Acting Chief Executive)?
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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If everybody has moved up a step into acting positions, then now that the Secretary of Transport job has been filled, everybody will just return to their permanent positions.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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It is not quite as simple as that. There has been an acting chief executive of Sydney Trains since February 2020, long before the Transport for NSW became vacant. So what did Collins do between February 2020 and the Transport for NSW job becoming available? At one stage he was also acting chief executive of NSW Trains but that job has been filled by Pete Allaway since November 2019.
I am open to any corrections on this.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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No Howard Collins hasn’t been CEO of Sydney Trains in a while. He has been Chief Operating Officer for Sydney in TfNSW which is more than just Sydney Trains. The temporary gig he recently had as deputy secretary seems to only have been for a few weeks so he definitely has a job to go back to.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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Very true. Just one comment - I thought it was Chief Operating Officer for New South Wales and not just Sydney.

Then the next question is when is there going to be a permanent Chief Executive for Sydney Trains which has now been temporary for over 12 months or has this been made permanent already?
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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I have no idea sorry, second hand information, I can’t find the press release or article that mentioned it earlier.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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boronia wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 5:56 pm
His predecessor Mr Staples was sacked without reason in November just weeks after receiving a positive performance review from Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

However, Mr Constance has since revealed he had grown frustrated with Mr Staples after he pushed back on a ministerial direction to clear millions of trees from all state-owned highways.

Mr Constance told Mr Staples to create a clearance zone of 40 metres either side of the highways after the Black Summer bushfires, which would have resulted in 104,000 hectares of land being cleared.
The guy was a paid bureaucrat to do as he's told when an elected minister instructs for nuisance vegetation be destroyed forthwith. Who is he to decide he is the tail wagging the dog?
I'd love to see more shrubbery removed next to rail lines so I can enjoy an uninterrupted view on an otherwise boring train journey, like between Woy Woy and Hornsby, where there are many kilometres of this. Who can forget the uproar by a small minded resident group in Cheltenham over the necessary removal of trees for the extra track that was always intended. I can see no detriment to the environment after going past recently.
I hope this new guy knows his place better.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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The public service has to follow the law. The law grants the minister certain powers to direct the public service to do things, but the power is not unlimited. Reporting elsewhere states that the order from the minister couldn’t be legally carried out.

The government could pass a law to clear the vegetation as per the minister’s request, and then it would happen.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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The primary mistake by Staples was not to handle it diplomatically. The request by Constance was clearly absurd once you looked at the realities of what the clearing would entail, and the environmental wreckage across the states' highways would never be accepted by locals. Staples knew that right away because he's a smart guy and just couldn't contain his disgust at the absurdity. Even so, it's good not to piss off your boss and he should have said something like, "we'll get right on that boss" while commissioning a study or something, knowing that eventually Constance would realise how ridiculous an idea it was (and meanwhile some consultants could get on the study gravy train). Instead, Staples reacted in a way that made his boss look worse in the media, which is about the worst thing a bureaucrat could ever do.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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My apologies to Rod this time. Andy was playing dictator expecting his rule to trump the law. Shame on him pawning him like that afterwards.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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I still can't believe that this was the real reason for his sacking. Constance did say at the time of the initial announcement that he wanted the leadership of TfNSW to seek a new direction. That doesn't sound to me like it's just about clearing trees. It's telling that the new appointment is an outsider.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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Linto63 wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:42 am
Transtopic wrote: I wonder what happens with Howard Collins - Deputy Secretary perhaps? He's already acting in the role.
Back to where he came like most people who act in a role, but don't take it permanently.
There is an article in the Daily Terror today https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/ ... c5d02afc7f where he is again called "Sydney Trains boss Howard Collins". Either the Telegraph got it wrong or he has gone back to that job.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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Being the Telegraph, I'd go for the first option.

From Linked in:
Chief Executive - Sydney Trains & Group Rail
Jul 2013 - Feb 2020 6 years 8 months

Chief Operations Officer - TNSW - Greater Sydney
Feb 2020 - Dec 2020 11 months

Acting Deputy Secretary for Greater Sydney - TNSW
Dec 2020 - Present 5 months
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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boronia wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:05 pm Being the Telegraph, I'd go for the first option.

From Linked in:
Chief Executive - Sydney Trains & Group Rail
Jul 2013 - Feb 2020 6 years 8 months

Chief Operations Officer - TNSW - Greater Sydney
Feb 2020 - Dec 2020 11 months

Acting Deputy Secretary for Greater Sydney - TNSW
Dec 2020 - Present 5 months
In today's SMH, Howard Collins is back to his former position of TfNSW Chief Operating Officer. As far as I can see, there is no replacement named for the Deputy Secretary role, occupied by the previous incumbent who was promoted/demoted to the position of CEO of Sydney Metro, a position previously held by Rodd Staples prior to his elevation to Secretary of TfNSW.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

Post by Swift »

I bet Howard has well and truly become accustomed to the NSW way of doing things by now. He's been here a long time now. I bet there was an element of culture shock when he started.
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Re: Former Virgin executive unveiled as NSW Transport boss

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jpp42 wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:03 pm The primary mistake by Staples was not to handle it diplomatically. The request by Constance was clearly absurd once you looked at the realities of what the clearing would entail, and the environmental wreckage across the states' highways would never be accepted by locals.
Just on that point, the locals would very much accept the tree clearing, they're right behind Constance on that. It's not "environmental wreckage" if it's done properly. The main issue is that, while it can be readily done within the typically quite wide road reservation, moving onto private property obviously opens up a whole lot more prior process. Anyway, I don't think this is the reason for what happened with Staples.
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