‘Jobs for mates’ culture corrodes trust in Victoria

A real danger political parties face when they’re in power for a long time is to become arrogant and unprincipled.

Coupled with a weak opposition and powerful majority in parliament, it can lead to favouritism, cronyism and closed decision-making which, in turn, breeds hubris and sees governments lose touch with voters.

James Merlino has become chair of the Suburban Rail Loop Authority.Credit: Tash Sorensen

The risk was highlighted last week with the appointment of former deputy premier James Merlino as chair of the $125 billion Suburban Rail Loop Authority charged with building a 90-kilometre orbital rail loop around Melbourne.

I have been covering politics for more than a decade, but my initial reaction was to be completely unmoved. This is how politics is played – toe the line in parliament, don’t make too many enemies, and you’ll pick up a lucrative job on a board, tribunals or agency in retirement.

But my apathy subsided when I challenged my blind acceptance of this insidious “jobs for the boys” culture.

It’s important to stress that Merlino himself is not the problem. While he doesn’t have any formal qualifications in engineering or economics, there is no doubt that his near 20-year political career has given him an insight into delivering major projects.

But it’s worth asking whether Merlino, or the other Labor-friendly members of the board, were the best candidates for the job. If so, who were the other candidates? Were they forced to whip up a resume? Go for a gruelling interview? Write a cover letter or supply professional referees?

And did the appointment meet the Victorian government’s own diversity guidelines which are meant to encourage appointments from cohorts that face barriers like Indigenous Victorians, as well as those who are disabled, culturally diverse, women or members of the LGBTIQ+ community?

As a long-serving cabinet minister, Merlino is perhaps the most qualified of the more than 30 former Labor MPs the Andrews government has selected for taxpayer-funded roles.

Those appointments include Marsha Thomson, the former member for Footscray who is on the board member of Zoos Victoria and attracts an annual salary of $19,999. Last financial year the board held four meetings.

Then there is Labor stalwart Liz Beattie, who spent almost 15 years in parliament – the majority on the backbench – and now receives a similar taxpayer-funded salary as a member of the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust.

Or former upper house MP Johan Scheffer – a one-time teacher and political staffer – who now chairs Sustainability Victoria, alongside fellow board member Neil Pharaoh, who twice ran for Labor in the seat of Prahran.

These are great gigs if you can get them. Which poses the question, are the rest of us plebs looked on as favourably for public appointments if we haven’t had the honour of serving as MPs, staffers and party officials?

The Grattan Institute has looked into it and discovered that no, we are not. The think tank discovered about 12 per cent of Victorian government appointments to powerful boards have political connections – and the overwhelming majority are linked to Labor.

To borrow a phrase from younger Victorians – who are severely underrepresented on government boards: “I’m shook.”

It seems no political party is exempt from the trappings of power.Credit: Matthew Piper

Anticipating screams of “the other mob do it too” – it seems federally, after almost a decade of Coalition rule, the problem is reversed. There, the Grattan Institute found 21 per cent of appointees to high-paying, powerful or prestigious boards have political connections and almost all have connections to the Coalition.

What this suggests is no political party is exempt from the trappings of power. It also exposes a clear pattern that the longer a party is in power the more political appointments are made.

Chatting to a number of state MPs – from both sides – who are nearing retirement, it’s clear that many of them employ a strategy of staying sweet with the government in exchange for a future appointment. But if governments use these appointments as gifts to reward allies, it promotes an environment of political patronage and fuels the public’s concerns about self-interest.

With so many former MPs, staffers and hangers-on in taxpayer-funded gigs, it would be unfair to assume they’re all hopeless. But it would also be equally naive to assume they were all the best candidates for the job, which makes you wonder if we are getting value for money.

Merlino’s appointment to the Suburban Rail Loop Authority board may not be the problem, but it's indicative of a wider culture of patronage, and one the Andrews government has chosen to embrace.

After locking in two former Labor MPs as ambassadors in Washington and London, the federal Labor government has shown more enthusiasm to end this culture with the abolition of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal – the body which reviews government decisions. It has been outrageously stacked with well-paid political appointees.

Time will tell if its replacement is just as laughable but, in the meantime, the Albanese government has asked former Australian Public Service Commissioner Lynelle Briggs to look at ways to end the “jobs for mates” culture.

There is a strong chance her report could lead to the compulsory advertising of roles, professional recruitment process and the performance measures for board members.

Victoria would be wise to follow suit.

Annika Smethurst is state political editor for The Age.

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