SA Ombudsman overturns James Morrison Academy FOI decisions: newly released documents confirm musician James Morrison gifted half a million from regional grant fund in "hand shake" deal
The SA Ombudsman has overturned Freedom of Information (FOI) determinations made by the SA Premier’s Office, over a year after the initial FOI application was made by this publication.
The documents reinforce earlier reporting by this publication suggesting that musician James Morrison was given $550,000 by the SA Government from a Regional Development Fund without an application, despite others being expected to submit applications.
The documents also contradict statements given to this publication by Minister for Regional Development Geoff Brock, who said last year "all due diligence" relating to the $500,000 Morrison grant "would have been done away from [him] as Minister", and that “every application [went] through a process, and those applications were assessed by an external group.”
The newly released internal emails between government staffers show Brock personally signed off on the Regional Development funds being transferred to Morrison, and even created a new category of arts and cultural funding to justify the decision. That funding category that was never opened to applications from South Australian residents.
The emails also show that Brock expressly requested he be given credit for the initiative of the Morrison Academy funding.
The funds were awarded to Morrison three months after his colleague, chartered accountant and businessman Richard (Rick) Allert AO, met with the Premier's Chief of Staff before requesting $500,000 of "seed funding" 4 days later on Morrison's behalf.
Brock claimed he had been convinced of the Morrison Academy project’s worth when another business associate of Morrison’s, Dale Cleves, knocked on Brock’s motel door with a bottle of red wine in April 2014. In his speech at the opening of Morrison’s education business, Brock said of the visit: "Dale, you were certainly very convincing.”
The documents depict planning for the Morrison Academy as unorganised. Just days before the James Morrison Academy project was announced to the public in October 2014, a senior staff member within the SA Premier’s Office, Jeremy Conway, wrote to his superiors: “the whole arrangement/business case up to now has been pretty loose”.
A separate FOI application submitted to the University of South Australia in 2018 revealed the Academy’s partner university held no documentation of initial curriculum planning or student policy planning relating to the James Morrison Academy of Music prior to it opening.
The James Morrison Academy has since failed to attract the numbers of students projected by Morrison, and received enrolments from few female students. It has already ceased offering Bachelor degrees after just 5 years in operation.
James Morrison’s leadership at the Academy has recently come under scrutiny, after he wrote a letter of reference for a student of his, Matthew Harkins, who admitted to indecently assaulting another student. Morrison willingly performed on stage with Harkins last year, after South Australia’s justice system permitted him to have his bail adjusted in order to travel to Melbourne perform with Morrison.
The documents released by the Premier’s Office are available in full below.