ALP powerbroker Don Farrell’s pick for envoy causes heartburn in Australia’s San Fran trade office
A number of Austrade’s business investment team in San Francisco are understood to be baffled at why Senator Farrell dumped the recommendation of an advertised recruitment process.
Staff at a key Australian government trade mission in the US are incensed at Trade Minister Don Farrell’s decision to appoint a former one-term Labor senator with no experience in the area as their new boss – rather than a high-ranking female executive who was named “preferred candidate” for the plum job.
A number of Austrade’s business investment team in San Francisco are understood to be baffled at why Senator Farrell dumped the recommendation of an advertised recruitment process to appoint Kirstyn Thomson as Australia’s next senior trade commissioner and consul-general for the city, instead picking his friend Chris Ketter.
Disquiet among staff includes fears that Mr Ketter’s appointment could amount to some downgrading of Austrade’s commercial focus in San Francisco, one of the organisation’s busiest operations.
Mr Ketter, appointed by Senator Farrell in July, served one term as a Labor backbench senator after 32 years as a shopworkers’ union official in Queensland. He has no trade investment experience and did not apply for the San Francisco post when it was advertised.
The Australian this month revealed that as Trade Minister, Senator Farrell ditched Ms Thomson as the “preferred candidate” for the position. Ms Thomson, head of Austrade’s Americas investment desk, has 20 years’ experience in trade and business development.
Her name had been submitted to Senator Farrell for formal approval last December after she was judged the top candidate from among 50 applicants.
Since starting in August, Mr Ketter has been undergoing training by Ms Thomson in Austrade’s Brisbane office, ahead of taking charge in San Francisco in December.
One source close to Austrade said the main issue was the value that the San Francisco office should create for the organisation.
“This is already a pretty busy place,” the source said. “It needs more resources, but it could be given, in effect, a manager who doesn’t quite know what to do.
“The office wanted someone Kirstyn-like, someone who is a technical expert in the area, who understands it, rather than someone plucked out of nowhere.
“While it’s a sort-of glitzy job in a city like San Francisco that people might want, it is actually a working job. It’s not ‘hand-shaking business development’ – it’s ‘negotiation-room business development’.”
Another source, with links to Austrade, said the San Francisco job was a business role primarily. The consul-general position was a secondary one to represent the Australian government in the west-coast city and provide consular services to Australians aboard.
Austrade staff have also questioned internally whether Mr Ketter would allegedly feel comfortable working in San Francisco, the “gay capital of the world”, given his conservative religious views. It’s believed about one-third of Austrade’s San Francisco office identifies as gay.
Staff are aware Mr Ketter was one of only two Labor senators to vote against legislation legalising same-sex marriage for Australians in 2017. The Australian does not suggest Mr Ketter is anti-gay or that he would not work well with gay people.
Another matter dominating internal Austrade anxiety is possible similarities with the NSW Coalition government’s decision last year to appoint former deputy premier John Barilaro to a senior trade post in New York.
Mr Barilaro scored the job just months after it was offered and then denied to a senior trade investment official, Jenny West.
Mr Barilaro ultimately declined to take up the appointment, saying it was untenable while also denying any wrongdoing.
Austrade staff in San Francisco first heard of Ms Thomson’s likely arrival in January, a month after she was anointed the preferred candidate.
Senator Farrell’s switch came as a shock when rumours began in March this year that the Trade Minister wanted Mr Ketter instead.
As senior officials of the right-wing Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association before both entered the Senate, Senator Farrell and Mr Ketter are longtime political allies and friends.
After losing his Senate seat in 2019, Mr Ketter was hired as a staffer by now Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, who said he wanted Mr Ketter to help rebuild Labor support in Queensland, with socially conservative Australians and people of faith.
Mr Ketter has declined to comment. Senator Farrell said he had followed “usual processes”.
More Coverage
An ugly win is still a win: How Crisafulli has a chance to reshape Queensland
David Crisafulli says he learned from the mistakes the Newman government made when he was a rookie minister - mistakes that cost him his seat in the Queensland parliament, and nearly his political career.
Greens lose one of their seats, Labor roars back in inner-city Brisbane
Both of the party’s state MPs have faced stronger-than-expected challenges in their inner Brisbane electorates, with the results likely to have repercussions for the next federal election.