Revealed: Premier Peter Malinauskas’ $600 per hour strategic adviser

Peter Hanlon grew up in Adelaide attending Elizabeth West High School and working for the air force – now he’s paid $600 per hour to advise Premier Peter Malinauskas.

Premier Peter Malinauskas. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

Premier Peter Malinauskas is being accused of inappropriately splashing taxpayer funds by hand-picking a former Westpac executive for a $600-an-hour secretive, part-time job as a strategic adviser.

Seizing on revelations former SA Film Corporation chairman Peter Hanlon was personally earmarked by Mr Malinauskas as a strategic adviser to his Premier’s Delivery Unit, the Opposition is accusing him of flying in the face of proper process and procedure to fill the “secret role”.

Opposition government accountability spokeswoman Michelle Lensink demanded the Premier explain why he was “hellbent on having this role filled by Peter Hanlon” and why he was paid “the same hourly rate charged by senior barristers with years of legal experience under their belt”.

Former Westpac retail and business banking group executive Peter Hanlon.

The Liberals also accused Mr Malinauskas of “handing out jobs to the boys” for employing former Labor premier Jay Weatherill’s chief of staff, Daniel Romeo as the Delivery Unit’s executive director without a merit process to earn an undisclosed salary.

Veteran Labor staffer and former ALP candidate Rik Morris, who was appointed in April last year as the Delivery Unit’s chief executive with a $361,000 salary package, told a Budget and Finance Committee hearing on Monday it was the “Premier’s decision” to hand-pick Mr Hanlon as the strategic adviser.

Freedom of information documents show Mr Hanlon was paid almost $36,000 over two financial years, with the committee hearing he “occasionally” works part days and “occasionally” works full days – but not full-time.

“Peter Malinauskas hand-picked Peter Hanlon for a job in the Premier’s Delivery Unit worth $600 per hour, but the only thing we know about the secret role is that it’s just part-time work,” Ms Lensink said.

“For that huge amount of taxpayer dollars, Peter Malinauskas is happy to take verbal advice and isn’t even concerned about written reports in relation to recommendations, which flies in the face of proper process and procedure.”

A government spokesman said Mr Hanlon was “engaged at his usual corporate rate” in May last year with a contract negotiated by Mr Morris, had thus far been paid at total of $33,550, and the fee had been “independently assessed by procurement advisers to ensure it delivers value for money”.

Mr Hanlon declined to comment.

Who is Peter Hanlon?

Mr Hanlon joined Westpac in 1990 and in 2009 was appointed to lead the bank’s transformation, focusing on customers and productivity, and in mid-2012 moved to an advisory role as an “enterprise executive”. He then worked directly with then-CEO Gail Kelly to, according to a Westpac statement, “use his extensive experience” to implement strategy.

Mrs Kelly in 2012 labelled Mr Hanlon “a versatile and deeply respected executive within our company”.

In late 2018, the-then Liberal premier Steven Marshall appointed Mr Hanlon as SA Film Corporation chairman, replacing former Labor health minister John Hill.

Mr Marshall at the time said Mr Hanlon had a wealth of experience as a successful businessman, with enormous experience as a producer, director and writer in the film industry.

“Mr Hanlon’s work within the film industry, combined with decades of experience across multiple advisory positions, make him highly suitable for this role,” Mr Marshall said.

At the time, he was BankSA chairman and a director of Adelaide-based independent film production company Living Not Beige Films.

The presiding member of the SA Film Corp at the time was paid a session, or meeting, fee of $885, which could not exceed an annual total of $10,614.

Mr Romeo’s wife, Sonia, is an assistant secretary of the shop assistants’ union and in 2015 succeeded Mr Malinauskas as state secretary.

The Advertiser in April last year revealed the appointment of Mr Morris, whose previous roles include Mr Malinauskas’s director of strategy in opposition, the 2018 ALP candidate for the northeastern Adelaide seat of Florey, SA Tourism Commission general manager and communications adviser in the Weatherill and Rann governments.

At the time, Mr Malinauskas said the unit – modelled on agencies operated by former United Kingdom and NSW leaders Tony Blair and Mike Baird – would be charged with ensuring his election promises were delivered on time and on budget.

A government spokesman said Mr Hanlon was contracted by the Premier’s delivery unit last year to assist in the delivery of election commitments by government agencies.

“His contract was negotiated by the chief executive of the Premier’s delivery unit (Mr Morris) and Mr Hanlon is engaged at his usual corporate rate,” he said.

“His fee was independently assessed by procurement advisers to ensure it delivers value for money.”

The government spokesman said “actual expenditure for his engagement since the appointment is $33,550”.

He contrasted this to more than $90,000, plus international flights and accommodation, paid by Mr Marshall’s Liberal government in 2018 Wayne Eagleson, chief of staff to two former NZ prime ministers, for 30 days of strategic advice on transition to government.

The spokesman said Mr Romeo’s salary was not required to be declared under a proactive disclosure regime, because his position was not sufficiently senior.

Peter Hanlon is paid $600 per hour for his part-time gig as the Premier’s strategic adviser.

Mr Hanlon has had a range of experiences from working as a system technician for the Royal Australian Air Force to chairing South Australian banks and corporations.

He attended both Elizabeth West High School and Enfield High School and went on to go to Royal Australian Air Force School of Technical Training before becoming a system technician in 1971.

He climbed the ranks from apprentice to airframe fitter to systems technician working for the air force for almost 20 years.

Mr Hanlon entered the banking industry the same month he left the air force working as a mature-age graduate at Bank SA before climbing the ranks to marketing manager.

According to Mr Hanlon’s LinkedIn he currently holds a range of titles including the deputy chair of Fleurieu Community Foundation, a role he has had for 13 and a half years, producer at Living Not Beige Films and Mess Productions, partner at Light ADL, co-chair at Mercury CX and a board member at Central Adelaide Local Health Network.

During his time Mr Hanlon has studied at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, he completed a Bachelor of Arts in communication and media at the University of South Australia and he has also completed an advanced management program at Harvard Business School.