HIH, Crown Ltd investigator joins Gympie council

The council’s newest big hire is a former ASIC assistant director and CEO of the Gladstone Water Board

Jim Grayson joins Gympie Regional Council as its new infrastrucutre director.

Jim Grayson knows a thing or two about taking a close look at complex issues that have a big impact on people’s lives.

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This is thanks to his time spent working on some of the biggest financial investigations in Australian history, including into Crown Casino Ltd and HIH Insurance.

Now the former ASIC assistant director is stepping into a new role as Gympie Regional Council’s Director for Infrastructure and Engineering Services.

He was brought back to Queensland following a stretch with ASIC in Victoria by his wife, but continued working across borders.

“Even though I was supposed to be in Sydney two days a week, it was five days a week,” he said,

“At the conclusion of that time I was brought in to review and lead the HIH (Insurance) investigation; that was a pretty big thing at the time.

Jim Grayson joins the Gympie council after working with ASIC and the Gladstone Water Area Board.

“I lead that with Peter Clark SC … and we got that to a point that prosecutions were imminent and that was the point where you either stay and commit five years of your life to seeing those prosecutions through or to do something else.”

That “something else” turned out to be with the Gladstone Area Water Board, which he joined in 2003 at the end of his seven year stint with Australia’s securities and investment watchdog.

“It (Gladstone’s water services) had huge amounts of change put on to it: come out of a drought, built a dam, had economic regulation, there were a whole lot of things going on, it was all over the place but had a very good chairperson who had a clear vision for what they wanted to achieve and the rest was history.”

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Mr Grayson was under no illusions about some of the big problems looming on the horizon which Gympie needed to grapple with, including climate change and growth.

Mr Grayson says the vision of Mayor Glen Hartwig and CEO Shane Gray is clear and he’s “keen to be part of that problem solving team”.

But there was always a way forward.

“Break them down to their parts, come up with a game plan, work through it … professionally, transparently, and you will come out the other side,” he said.

As for what he does in his own time, Mr Grayson said being married and a father to two teenagers left little time for outside pursuits.

“I don’t have hobbies anymore,” he said.

There was still a lot to like about his job though – whether it be with ASIC, at Gladstone or here.

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“I like the bit about doing something that adds to the community.

“It has a reward above just remuneration.

“When I was with ASIC it was incredible; you could do law, legal stuff, but you were doing it to help people, catch out the bad guys, do something that mattered.”

And he could see a bright future for the region.

“(CEO) Shane (Gray) and (Mayor) Glen (Hartwig) have articulated a very good vision for down here for moving things forward and I’m keen to be part of that problem solving team.”

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