CONTROVERSIAL former Ballarat City Council chief executive officer Richard Hancock has scored a highly-paid job overseeing Australia’s trucking industry reform.Mr Hancock has been appointed the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s project director, based in Brisbane.He is responsible for implementing unified heavy trucking laws throughout Australia, apart from Western Australia, by 2013, as well as creating up to $20 billion in national productivity benefits.On his Linked In profile, Mr Hancock describes himself as a “highly experienced chief executive and project manager with extensive networks across local, territory, state and commonwealth government”.He also states he has “a very strong knowledge of transport, infrastructure development and delivery, planning and environment approval processes”.However, during his three-year term in Ballarat, Mr Hancock was criticised for providing “jobs for mates” and for his role in misconduct allegations relating to a former Ballarat council.As council’s chief executive officer, Mr Hancock employed three consultants who were paid more than $1.2 million in total, as well as airfares, parking, hire cars and accommodation. A former workmate from the City of Sydney, Mike Chiodo, was also hired as a consultant but moved into an acting managerial role, earning more than $600,000 over a three-year period. However, neither Mr Chiodo nor his salary were listed on the compulsory register used to record senior officers’ salaries.Council staff interviewed as part of a PriceWaterhouseCoopers investigation into misconduct allegations against a former council also raised concerns about Mr Hancock’s tenure, saying senior appointments were lacking in transparency. Mr Hancock was also criticised in the 2008 investigation, which said he had failed to follow due process in awarding contracts and hiring the consultants. However, a Victorian Ombudsman’s report showed Mr Hancock and Mr Chiodo had both been denied natural justice because neither had been interviewed by investigators. In its report, the accounting firm said they had been unable to locate Mr Hancock as he had moved to Dubai. In actual fact, an internet search would have shown he was actually working for the Northern Territory government in Darwin.