Former Liberal senator David Bushby lands plum state government job

Former Liberal Senator David Bushby has landed a well-paid state government job — working for a familiar face in a move that’s angered Opposition MPs.

2016 Federal Election Liberal Party election night function in Hobart, former Senator David Bushby

Former Liberal Senator David Bushby has landed a well-paid state government job as a senior Adviser to his former Senate colleague and business partner Guy Barnett.

Opposition parties have described his employment “jobs for the boys” — although the government insists he was appointed on merit.

Mr Bushby, a senator for Tasmania between 2007 and 2019, served as Australia’s Consul-General in Chicago between 2019 and March last year.

He has most recently worked as a Sydney-based self-employed strategic Adviser and consultant, but a government spokesman on Thursday confirmed his appointment to a job in Mr Barnett’s office.

“David Bushby applied for an advertised role with the Tasmanian Government,” he said.

“Based on his skills and experience, he was subsequently offered the role of Senior Adviser, State Development, Construction and Housing.

“Mr Bushby commenced in the role on 3 April, 2023.”

According to the routine disclosures published by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, a senior Adviser in a full-time role in September last year could expect to earn somewhere between $152,367 to $183,912 a year.

Mr Bushby’s LinkedIn account notes that he was a business partner in Mr Barnett’s business GBA Communications from 2001.

Mr Barnett served in the Senate from 2002 to 2011, overlapping Mr Bushby’s term by four years.

Former Liberal Senator David Bushby

Labor’s Ella Haddad said the appointment smacked of “jobs for the boys”

“If Guy Barnett was serious about finding real solutions to the state’s housing crisis he would surround himself with experts in housing, not give plum jobs to mates,” she said.

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor was also unimpressed.

“Here we go again … another job for a Liberal mate. Perhaps we should be thankful it’s not the public service they are politicising through appointments this time,” she said.

“Unfortunately for the many Tasmanians without homes, this seems to be the only thing happening in the housing portfolio under Guy Barnett.

“We hope for the sake of the thousands on the housing waiting list and suffering unaffordable rents that Mr Bushby will help his Minister deliver on housing reform — but we don’t really expect there to be much focus on battlers from Barnett and Bushby.”

Senator Bushby is remembered for directing a cat noise towards then Finance Minister Penny Wong during an economics committee hearing in 2011.

“I thought she was like an angry cat, the way they sometimes strike out. I like cats,” he was quoted as saying at the time. He subsequently apologised.

He was appointed to the Consul-General’s job an hour after resigning from the Senate with three years left on his term.

His seat was taken over by his sister, Wendy Askew, who remains a Liberal Senator for Tasmania.