Former small business minister Bruce Billson did nothing for his reputation when he left Parliament to accept a job at the Franchise Council of Australia, eventually earning the uncommon distinction of being censured by Parliament for being paid to do so while still on the taxpayer’s dime.

For a man whose irrepressible enthusiasm for the nation’s tiniest corporations once made him one of the government’s most media-friendly representatives, his appointment by Michaelia Cash to replace Kate Carnell as small business and family enterprise ombudsman on Wednesday – a five-year, $360,250-a-year position – was met with only weary resignation.