The federal government’s spend on getting Mathias Cormann the OECD’s top job might top $1m

Why has the federal government spent hundreds of thousands of dollars - probably even into the millions - to secure a job for someone who is now a private citizen?

The federal government has refused to disclose how much taxpayer money has been spent on getting former finance minister Mathias Cormann chosen as the next secretary-general of the OECD.

It has also refused to explain under what authority the money – which has certainly run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and probably even into the millions – was spent, to secure a job for someone who is now a private citizen.

I asked those two questions, on the record of DFAT – the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade – and received only meaningless waffle in response.

I quote in full:

“Australia’s national interest lies in a strong and stable global economic order. It makes sense for us to seek a leadership role in a premier international economic institution. If we want international institutions to thrive, Australia must step forward and offer our expertise to lead organisations such as the OECD.

“The Government considered it in our national interest to ensure the OECD is led by someone with strong economic credentials, substantial political and international experience and a firm commitment to global economic governance.

“The Government’s decision to nominate an Australian for OECD Secretary-General was a logical extension of Australia’s commitment to a multilateral system that, as the Foreign Minister has said, is fit for-purpose, accountable to member states, and free from undue influence.”

Former finance minister, Mathias Cormann. Picture: Martin Ollman

Pure pabulum and totally avoiding my straight-forward substantive questions; I am left to reasonably conclude two things.

One: that the taxpayer money spent HAS gone into the millions.

I had floated that number in my Sunday column. DFAT did not seek to “correct it”, while it did seek to correct my reference to Cormann getting his $360,000 tax-free OECD salary “presumably, on top of his parliamentary pension”.

DFAT pointed out that Cormann does not get the old (lush) pension as he was elected to the Senate in 2007 and it had been abolished in 2004.

What he has had instead is the not-quite so lush superannuation scheme with 15.4 per cent of salary paid into the scheme by the taxpayer compared with the 9.5 per cent paid for most workers.

Two: that the basis for the spending basis is of dubious validity. Spending taxpayer money to get a private citizen, Cormann, chosen to head the OECD, is no different to spending taxpayer money to get an Australian chosen to head, say, Shell.

The idea that Cormann will somehow “represent” Australia as head of the OECD is quite simply as utterly ludicrous as suggesting that an Australian as CEO of Shell would “represent” Australia.

No, in both cases they have to run their organisations for the collective interests and aims of the membership or shareholders.

Cormann will be and indeed has already been captured by the essentially European-driven – and even more specifically European Union-driven (22 of 37) - membership.

Like every country we have a direct representative – an ambassador to the OECD. He - Alex Robson – “represents” Australia. It won’t be Cormann.

Indeed, this was all-but stated by the “insider” stories on how Cormann won and even more emphatically by Cormann’s own words in his statement on winning.

Briefly, bluntly, that he had utterly ditched his previous so-called climate scepticism – actually, science-based realism – and signed up to, as he had to, the European obsession with climate change and eliminating emissions of CO2.

I’m certainly pleased that his win was “one in the eye” for our crazy Dark Greens, who took Cormann at his word – actually, many words over literally decades of realism – and campaigned aggressively and viciously against him.

But the brutal fact is that in practice they got the ‘climate-modified’ Cormann they were always going to get, not that embarrassing, politically incorrect ‘belching cow’ that I referenced Sunday.

Originally published as The federal government’s spend on getting Mathias Cormann the OECD’s top job might top $1m