Business leaders are growing tired of the Albanese government’s use of nondisclosure agreements

Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ department has insisted on nondisclosure agreements. Picture: Martin Ollman

The Albanese government is asking corporate leaders to sign nondisclosure agreements over the advice they provide in working groups and on advisory roundtables, a move slammed by some business leaders as an appalling abuse of process and antithetical to the democratic parliamentary system.

Margin Call has learned that NDAs have been used by the departments of Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke to gather discreet advice from stakeholders on proposed reforms in their portfolios.

Some representatives have been asked to sign multiple NDAs, suggesting the documents – a highly unorthodox measure – are being used widely across government.

The NDAs prohibit individuals from discussing the nature of their participation or the specific matters for which they have been consulted. In most cases these working groups are a mystery to the public, along with their terms of reference, the individuals appointed to steer them and, importantly, the advice ultimately provided to the government to inform its decision-making.

Representatives from the Minerals Council of Australia, the Grattan Institute, Cbus, UniSuper and other peak bodies are understood to have been presented with NDAs and to have signed them. The MCA said its positions were regularly published, but the remaining organisations either declined to comment or did not respond to questions.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott. Picture: Jane Dempster

Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott is known to have put her signature to more than one NDA, and Margin Call has learned of her immense displeasure with the process; at a recent meeting she allegedly voiced her concern to a number of people and said she would refuse to sign “another one” if asked.

“Many business leaders are going to refuse to sign any more,” one chief executive told this column. “How would a ministerial NDA work if the person was called before, say, a parliamentary inquiry or during Senate estimates? The point of a democratic parliamentary system is transparency and accountability.”

Government praxis typically sees reform proposals distributed for public consultation and feedback. This remains the case under the Albanese government – with the exception of the unannounced working groups that tend to operate in secret.

In September Margin Call revealed that Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones had formed a “technical working group” to “complement broader consultation processes for the Your Future, You Super review”. NDAs were not used in that process but a Treasury document said the views of participants “will not be made public”.

Barely one year into his term as Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese has consistently spoken in favour of accountability, transparency and responsible government, while having attacked his predecessor, Scott Morrison, for co-opting five ministerial portfolios during the pandemic.

Comment was sought from Albanese, Chalmers and Burke.

Cannabis capers

Vitura Health is the medicinal cannabis outfit formerly known as Cronos. We last reported on Cronos in October when details of its chief medical officer, Benjamin Jansen, and his abrupt departure from the company one month earlier, were finally made public.

Rather than simply leave, as Jansen’s departure was so politely framed at first, the company informed the market that he was actually sacked for a “repeated pattern of inappropriate behaviour, lack of judgment and poor performance”.

No word, of course, on exactly what that “repeated pattern” of behaviour entailed. But hints might be drawn from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, an obscure government agency that recently imposed conditions on Jansen’s medical registration.

These were published on March 17 and include an order that Jansen complete a “program of education” in relation to “prescribing principles and practice” concerning the effects of certain drugs, including “experimental drugs such as cannabis products”. So, was Jansen a bit loose with handing out the sticky-icky? We asked him for a response but did not receive a reply by deadline.

In addition to one-on-one re-education he’ll also have to submit his practice to “bimonthly audits” and the inspection of patient records.

That aside, interesting times, regardless, at Vitura Health. Jansen’s brother Matua, the trustee of a major shareholding group, recently sought an extraordinary general meeting to direct the board to provide a “1-cent fully franked interim dividend to all shareholders”. If only it were that easy.

A little greedy, too, given Vitura only just paid a 1c dividend in October – the first medicinal cannabis company to do so. The resolution was discarded, and good governance would probably demand it.

Vitura said in response: “The proposed resolution considers matters that cannot be effected by shareholders of the company.”

Political correctness

Is this virtue-signalling at its most barefaced?

Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney, hard at work driving the Albanese government’s model for a voice to parliament, was sent a care parcel by Wesfarmers-owned retailer Kmart, a little cog within the $59bn corporate conglomerate.

Burney disclosed the gift in her register of interests, with the largesse comprising a selection of items from Kmart’s Waluwin collection of homewares – think bedlinen, ceramics, candles, all created in collaboration with Aboriginal artist Judith Young.

Trouble is, as far as Margin Call can tell, the lion’s share of the range is manufactured in China, with a smattering of items also smashed out in India – both a world away from Oz.

Kmart Australia, led by CEO John Gualtieri – he reports to Wesfarmers chief Rob Scott – says the range is part of its “First Nations Program” and developed with “utmost cultural sensitivity”.

“(It) began as we were looking for ways to partner in an authentic way with First Nations artists. We wanted to make sure that we are creating true connections between the artist and our customers,” the Kmart website says.

A true connection, indeed, just routed via China and India.

Kmart was contacted about its offshoring but wasn’t exactly forthcoming in its reply. “Our company receives numerous requests each year for business information, and as a result we have had to adopt a policy of declining such requests,” a spokeswoman said.