National

'Clear case of cronyism': school building boss corrupt

Apr 22, 2026

Students with pencils — An infrastructure chief misallocated millions of dollars meant for school projects, a watchdog says. -AAP Image

A top bureaucrat who led an infrastructure agency tasked with building schools has been found to have engaged in corrupt conduct.

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The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption said former chief executive of School Infrastructure NSW Anthony Manning engaged in corrupt conduct by subverting recruitment and procurement practices to misallocate taxpayer dollars to benefit friends and business associates.

In a 205-page report released on Wednesday, the commission laid out how Mr Manning spent millions of dollars intended for school projects on consultants and contingent workers who were his friends and associates.

While the watchdog did not find Mr Manning had obtained a personal financial benefit, Commissioner Paul Lakatos deemed his conduct a "clear case of cronyism".

"Public money that had been put aside to build and improve schools for NSW children was instead spent on jobs for friends and associates of the chief executive," Mr Lakatos said.

The agency spent $344 million on contingent workers from 2017 to 2024 under Mr Manning's leadership.

Much of that sizeable pot was sourced from funds for school projects across the state to hide the overall spend on recruitment.

Twenty-six of these roles were paid at or above the level of a deputy secretary.

One of these workers received the equivalent of about $644,000 a year and started in the role without proper recruitment processes.

After being appointed in 2017, he also awarded contracts worth millions to Price Waterhouse Coopers and another firm in a departure from standard procurement processes.

In one case, a consultancy headed by a friend of Mr Manning's won an initial tender worth $145,000 and was then paid almost 30 times as much for subsequent work that did not go out to market.

But Mr Manning's conduct also included reprisals, with several staff sacked after they questioned his decisions.

The report also blamed the NSW Department of Education for inadequate oversight of SINSW and Mr Manning.

It failed to respond to red flags and did not address poor financial practices, the commission said.

NSW Education Minister Prue Car said the findings vindicated the thousands of families in Western Sydney who told the previous government "schools were needed (and) instead of being listened to, they were gaslit"."It is clear the former Liberal-National government's mismanagement let families across NSW down," she said.

The anti-corruption body recommended the government seek advice from the director of public prosecutions regarding the potential prosecution of Mr Manning and others.