South Australia’s former planning minister Stephan Knoll committed misconduct by attempting to sack members of the Adelaide Cemeteries Authority board without authority, an investigation has found.

Key points:

  • The ombudsman found Stephan Knoll engaged in misconduct in a matter involving the Adelaide Cemeteries Authority
  • He tried to dismiss several members of the authority’s board, including its chair
  • Mr Knoll is the Member for Schubert, but last December announced his intention to retire from politics at the 2022 election

The finding, conducted by state ombudsman Wayne Lines, was completed in August last year, soon after the minister resigned from cabinet amid an expenses scandal.

But the ombudsman’s findings have remained secret until now because Mr Knoll sought to challenge the decision in the courts.

He recently discontinued those proceedings.

Mr Lines found Mr Knoll engaged in misconduct when he attempted to dismiss several members from the Adelaide Cemeteries Authority board, including its chair, lawyer Ester Huxtable.

Such dismissals can only be made by the Governor.

The matter was referred to the ombudsman by the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC).

Mr Knoll told the ombudsman he had relied upon his chief of staff, who had drafted a letter, which stated the minister had the power to remove board members.

SA Ombudsman Wayne Lines completed his report on Mr Knoll in August 2020, but it was not made public for 12 months.(

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While Mr Lines found it was “not entirely unreasonable” for Mr Knoll to assume he had the authority, his failure to make enquiries at any time during extended discussions “falls short of the standard of diligence expected of ministers purporting to exercise a statutory power”.

The ombudsman found the conduct of purporting to remove directors without taking adequate steps to satisfy himself of his authority to do so amounted to a breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct, which requires ministers to “act diligently in the performance of official powers and functions”.

In a statement sent to ABC Radio Adelaide, Mr Knoll said “a minor procedural mistake was made” and he fixed it “straight away”.

“The ombudsman report finds I acted swiftly and appropriately once the administrative error was identified and immediate steps were taken to correct it,” he said.

“I stand by my decision to appoint a new skills-based board that has now been in place for more than 18 months and have been proven to be excellent and successful appointments.”

Labor spokesperson Tom Koutsantonis said Mr Knoll was the first minister in the state’s history to be found guilty of misconduct.

“This is a staggering blow to the credibility of the Marshall Liberal Government,” Mr Koutsantonis said.

“Steven Marshall needs to outline what penalty he will impose on Stephan Knoll.”

Mr Knoll announced last December that he would retire from politics at the March 2022 election.

Misconduct not ‘serious’, report says

Mr Lines said while the minister’s actions amounted to misconduct under the ICAC Act, he would not necessarily characterise the misconduct as “serious”.

He also noted the mistake was quickly fixed.

“That said, I have had some difficulty comprehending how such an error could be made by anyone who had turned their mind to the relevant sections of the Cemeteries Act, the requirements of which are unambiguous, and the advice provided by [the chief executive officer] and the Boards and Committees Unit within the Department of Premier and Cabinet,” Mr Lines said.

The ombudsman also investigated whether Mr Knoll committed misconduct or maladministration by inappropriately pressuring board members to resign, and whether he selected one or more of the new board directors based on a prior personal relationship.

While Mr Lines found the former minister knew some of the new directors as a result of prior professional dealings he could not conclude Mr Knoll had “a relevant prior personal relationship with them”.

The ombudsman made no findings of misconduct or maladministration in these matters.

In his report, Mr Lines said he intended to provide a final copy to Premier Steven Marshall, so that he may consider whether to take any further action.

Former board members had Labor links

The board sackings became an issue of public controversy during a parliamentary budget estimates hearing in July 2019.

The Labor Opposition accused Mr Knoll of acting “unlawfully” when he attempted to dismiss those board members.

The board sackings were brought up during a parliamentary hearing in 2019.(

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At the time, Mr Koutsantonis told the committee he had been “informed that the minister, without seeking approval of the Governor” had written to three board members “seeking to remove them from the authority without the authority of the Governor”.

Mr Koutsantonis told the committee that was “an unlawful act”.

“Not only that, but the Opposition has been informed that the minister had attempted to appoint new members to the board without informing the Governor,” he said at the time.

Mr Knoll responded by suggesting the Labor MP “should reflect on the accuracy” of his statements on the subject.

In a subsequent committee hearing in December 2019, Mr Knoll said the government was trying to replace the members of the cemeteries board with people with better credentials.

Former board chair, Ester Huxtable.(

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Many of the former board members had strong Labor links, including former state MP Robyn Geraghty, former union official Wayne Hanson, and professional board director Mary Patetsos, who is married to former Labor Senator Nick Bolkus.

Mr Koutsantonis told parliament Ms Huxtable was not “a Labor crony”.

“To the best of my knowledge, she is not a member of the Australian Labor Party, nor has she ever been,” he said.

“She is just a well-respected lawyer, and there was an attempt to have her terminated unlawfully.”

The authority’s new chairman, Tristan Just, once advised Mr Knoll’s family company, Barossa Fine Foods.

Another of Mr Knoll’s chosen appointees, Joanna Andrew, unsuccessfully stood for Liberal preselection in the federal seat of Sturt.

Evidence suppressed after MP’s request

In September last year, Mr Knoll sought a judicial review of the ombudsman’s finding and his decision to publish the report.

At Mr Knoll’s request, Supreme Court Justice Mark Livesey made orders suppressing all evidence and anything which would tend to identify him.

The judge also prevented publication of Mr Knoll’s name on publicly accessible courts lists, meaning the matter was listed as ‘G v Wayne Lines’.

In December, lawyers for the ABC and the Advertiser unsuccessfully sought to have the suppression orders lifted.

In a statement on Friday, a State Government spokesperson said the Premier was “reviewing the ombudsman’s report, which contains no recommendations for the Government”.

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