Off The Record: Former Liberal minister Christopher Pyne goes back to Canberra

Christopher Pyne had a long career in federal politics, now the former minister is heading back to Canberra – but not for a political comeback.

Not content with getting the band back together, Christopher Pyne and Adam Howard are now heading back to Canberra.

The pair – Howard is the former Defence Minister’s chief of staff – have been on a hiring tear recently, picking up Canberra-based Kacey Lam, who ran as a Liberal candidate in the recent ACT election.

Lam joins the lobbying outfit Pyne and Partners as a senior associate, while Alisha Dhillon joined as an analyst in October.

Dhillon, who has a Master’s from the London School of Economics and a law degree from The University of Adelaide, was a staffer in Trade Minister Simon Birmingham’s office from 2017-2019.

Since launching Pyne and Partners 18 months ago (and the related GC Advisory a year previous) Pyne and Howard have arguably settled in as the pre-eminent lobbying firm in Adelaide, with clients ranging from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra to Ed Peter’s Duxton group.

Howard tells Off The Record that Lam was hired ahead of P & P hanging its shingle in Canberra early in the new year, adding to its Adelaide office.

In other moves on the lobbying front, Barton Deakin, headed by John Griffin, has picked up Baker’s Delight and Kentucky Fried Chicken as clients. Throw in existing clients Maccas and the Spirits and Cocktails Association and you have yourself a pretty nice spread.

And last but not least, Castlereagh Advisory has picked up former bidder for the Future Frigates program – Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri Australia and the Australian Energy Foundation.

Fincantieri would be well advised, if re-entering the South Australian market, to get some advice on how to smooth the way.

The company skipped town pretty quickly after it failed to win the $35 billion Future Frigate bid, despite having made some seemingly solid promises about its commitment to the local market.

Fincantieri awarded contracts to build cruise ship blocks to two South Australian companies – MG Engineering in Adelaide and Ottoway Engineering in Whyalla, only to pull out unexpectedly when it didn’t get the job to build the big warships.

Fincantieri was widely believed to have been running a close second to the eventual winner of the Frigate contract, BAE Systems.

Off The Record has contacted Castlereagh about what might be on the cards for Italian firm, which is also a dab hand at superyacht builds.

Long-term professional sidekicks Christopher Pyne and Adam Howard. (AAP Image/Dean Martin)

Blue-ribbon candidates

Critics of the Liberals have for some time decried the party’s advancement of women through the ranks.

But the female frontrunners to replace outgoing Schubert MP Stephan Knollin the safe Barossa Valley seat have impressive pedigrees.

Ashton Hurn is Premier Steven Marshall’s director of media and communications. She’s also worked as a ministerial adviser for senior Moderates Christopher Pyne and Anne Ruston.

Raised in Angaston, Hurn is the sister of West Coast Eagles premiership captain Shannon Hurn and granddaughter of the late Brian Hurn, a former state cricketer, Barossa Council mayor and Local Government Association president. Her fiance is the aforementioned Adam Howard, Pyne’s longtime professional sidekick who cut his political teeth almost 20 years ago in the ministerial office of SA Liberal Moderate “godfather” Robert Hill.

Ashton Hurn and brother Shannon Hurn, a premiership captain of the West Coast Eagles. Source. Facebook.

The other frontrunner, Caroline Rhodes, also has impressive credentials. The CEO at Grain Producers SA, she also has been a SA Cricket Association board member since 2016.

Rhodes was the chief of staff to Right-aligned Senator David Fawcett and the joint managing director of corporate advisory Bespoke Approach from 2013-16.

At that time, the firm’s ranks included former federal Liberal leader and Mayo MP Alexander Downer. Downer, also a former state Liberal president, has been aligned with the party’s Right. Rhodes’ family has a farm at Mt Torrens, in the seat of Mayo but just outside Schubert’s southern boundary.

Grain Producers SA CEO Caroline Rhodes. Picture: Supplied.

Schubert remains a blue-ribbon Liberal seat with a margin of 15.6 per cent after proposed boundary changes that reduced the margin to 6.3 per cent were abandoned last month.

The question will be whether the branch members, who historically have pre-selected Right candidates like Knoll, will continue that trend or, as the Liberal factional lines increasingly wax, wane and blur, not consider this to be a major issue.