At least one in five jobs on prestigious and often well-paid federal government boards are held by political appointees, the majority of them with direct ties to the Coalition after it awarded dozens of plum positions to political allies during its nine years in power.
The boards of more than 30 important national institutions, government-owned businesses and agencies have at least one Coalition-linked member who has worked in politics either as a politician, candidate, political adviser or party employee, while numerous boards have multiple political appointees.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott is among four Liberal Party-aligned members of the Australian War Memorial board, chaired by former party leader Brendan Nelson.Credit: Mark Jesser
An analysis by independent think tank the Grattan Institute found 21 per cent of appointees to federal government board positions since 2014 had direct political connections, with ties “overwhelmingly to the Coalition”.
Three federal institutions had boards on which 50 per cent of members had political links to the Coalition – the Productivity Commission (six of 12 seats), Australia Post (four of eight seats) and the Commonwealth Grants Commission (two of four seats).
The National Library, the National Maritime Museum and the Australian Sports Commission have three Coalition-linked board members, while former prime minister Tony Abbott is among four Liberal Party-aligned members of the Australian War Memorial board, chaired by former federal minister and party leader Brendan Nelson.
The think tank urged the federal government to legislate new safeguards to ensure a transparent, merit-based selection process for public roles, including creation of a new public appointments commissioner role to oversee an independent panel process for assessing applicants. Ministers would be limited to selecting candidates from a recommended shortlist.
But Grattan found political board stacking was also rife at a state level by Labor governments, including in Victoria where 12 per cent of plum board roles were held by political appointees, most with ties to Labor.
Grattan chief executive Danielle Wood, who co-authored the research, said the creeping politicisation of public bodies that are set up to be independent of government was a form of “grey corruption” that eroded public trust in institutions.
“People often think of corruption as bags of money, exchanging hands for favours. But in a way, this sort of grey corruption is more insidious. It undermines institutions over time. It undermines democracy and therefore, I do think it is a corruption of our political process,” Wood said.
“If the new federal government is serious about improving the way politics is done in Australia, it should set about ending the insidious jobs-for-mates culture – and the state and territory governments should get on board.”
A “jobs for mates” culture was most visible among federal government business enterprises such as Australia Post and the Australian Rail Track Corporation where board roles are especially lucrative, the pay ranging from $91,000 to almost $200,000. Grattan found 22 per cent of these roles were political appointees – 93 per cent of whom had Coalition links – a stark comparison with the ASX100 companies of which just 2 per cent of all board members had political ties.
At a state level,14 per cent of government business board members in QLD and the ACT were affiliated with Labor, while in Victoria, it was around 10 per cent, with most linked to Labor.
Professor Meredith Edwards, from the University of Canberra’s Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, said proper process for appointments should involve auditing the skills needed when vacancies arise, rather than the minister hand-picking candidates.
“What you do is you look at who you’ve got [on the board], and then look where the gaps are, asking the chair of the board, if not others, what sort of skills do you need over the next few years to achieve your objectives?” she said.
Grattan’s estimates are conservative – they don’t include known members of political parties, donors, union officials or prominent supporters.
The political stacking of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal – where member salaries range from nearly $200,000 to nearly $500,000 a year – skyrocketed under the former Coalition governments, with Grattan finding that 31 per cent of appointees since 2017 were linked to the Liberal and National parties.
Acting opposition leader Sussan Ley did not respond to questions about political appointments under the Coalition.
To draw a comparison between state and federal governments of opposing political persuasions, Grattan analysed Victorian government appointees, finding 13 boards with at least one Labor-affiliated member. The Queen Victoria Women’s Centre, Victorian Multicultural Institution and Work Safe Victoria had two Labor affiliated board members, while Sustainability Victoria had three – all appointed by the Labor government.
A Victorian government spokesperson said: “All board nominees are selected on merit and the basis of their diverse backgrounds, gender and ethnicity to ensure our board reflect the Victorian community”.
In NSW, the Coalition government has been tarred by a still-unfolding political scandal over the appointment of former deputy premier John Barilaro to a New York trade commissioner job in a move that stripped the role from bureaucrat Jenny West, who had been offered it.
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