Stefan Bradley
A ‘JOBS for mates’ culture is undermining our democracy, according to a Grattan Institute report released in July.
New politics: A better process for public appointments by Danielle Wood, Kate Griffiths and Anika Stobart, shows that many federal and state government boards, tribunals, and agencies are stacked with people who have worked in politics – almost always for the party that was in government when they were hired.
The New South Wales government has been under fire in recent months over the appointment of former Deputy Premier John Barilaro’s appointment to a plum job in New York as New South Wales Trade Commissioner. Mr Barilaro had a role in creating the $500,000-a-year job when he was in Parliament last year, and the original successful candidate for the role had her verbal offer rescinded.
Mr Barilaro, who had retired from politics last year, withdrew from the post as the scandal engulfed the government. The saga has been viewed as an example of ‘jobs for mates’ or ‘jobs for the boys’.
The Gippsland Times asked Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) Deputy Commissioner David Wolf whether jobs for mates or jobs for the boys could be considered a form of corruption.
“If you think about the role of local government employees, and you think of the information and resources they have access to, it could be considered corrupt or improper,” he said.
“If it’s for personal gain or causing loss to another individual or group, or if it affects that impartial or fair application of a public sector role, it can be construed as being improper.”
IBAC is Victoria’s independent agency responsible for preventing and exposing public sector corruption and police misconduct.
The Grattan Institute report says that political appointees occupy 21 per cent of federal government board positions that are well-paid, powerful, and/or prestigious.
Half of the Productivity Commission’s board members have a political connection to the Coalition.
More than one in five members of federal government business boards have a political connection – including businesses such as Australia Post that employ thousands of people and manage income in the billions. In some states, it’s one in 10. By contrast, fewer than 2 per cent of ASX100 company board members – who exercise very similar responsibilities – have a political connection.
The report says that stacking is especially evident on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), an independent expert body that reviews government decisions on everything from child support to migration status.
The AAT offers “the full trifecta” of powerful, prestigious, and well-paid positions with salaries ranging from nearly $200,000 to nearly $500,000 a year.
Twenty per cent of the AAT’s 320 tribunal members have a direct political connection to the government that appointed them.
The Grattan Institute says the problem is getting worse. Political appointments to the AAT have grown substantially in the past five years, and many of these appointments were made on ‘election eve’ – in the lead up to the 2019 and 2022 federal elections.
The report calls on federal and state governments to establish a transparent, merit-based selection process for all public appointments, overseen by a new Public Appointments Commissioner:
All public board, tribunal, and statutory appointments should be advertised, along with the selection criteria for each position.
An independent panel, including the Public Appointments Commissioner, should assess applicants against the selection criteria and provide a shortlist of candidates to the minister.
The minister should be required to choose the successful candidate only from the shortlist.
“When mateship prevails over merit, we all suffer,” report lead author and Grattan Institute CEO Danielle Wood said.
“Of course not all political appointees are without merit, but politicising public appointments can compromise the performance of government agencies, promote a corrupt culture, and undermine public trust in the institutions of government.
“This is a big problem, but it has an easy fix. If the new federal government is serious about improving the way politics is done in Australia, it should set about ending the insidious jobs-for-mates culture – and the state and territory governments should get on board.”
