The Business Council’s Centre Ground public advocacy outfit is no more, despite the corporate lobby raising millions of dollars for an unprecedented push into political campaigning just one year ago.
Its bogeyman, Labor senator Kristina Kenneally, will be delighted.
One of the first departures, of course, was Andrew Bragg, a long-time Financial Services Council policy director turned right-hand man to BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott.
Centre Ground, the Business Council's political campaigning outfit, has been disbanded. Illustration: John ShakespeareCredit:
He left in August and was preselected to the Liberal Party’s Senate ticket in December.
Next to go was former Deloitte staffer Gustaf Sorman-Nilsson, who had joined last February as a campaign manager. He headed off to Sydney University as a strategic ventures adviser.
Sorman-Nilsson is a good friend of Manly Liberal MP James Griffin, whose slick campaign approach helped departing Coogee Liberal Bruce Notley-Smith and is expected to be copied by Dave Sharma in his attempt to wrest Wentworth from Kerryn Phelps.
Finally, this month Finn Stichbury, who arrived last April after working for former New Zealand prime minister Bill English, moved back in Wellington to work for the National Party.
The only person left on the Centre Ground Limited vehicle established last February is a former BCA chief of staff - and even he has taken a step back from full-time work and been replaced by The Australian’s former Canberra bureau chief Phil Hudson.
BCA insiders say the focus of their campaigns have shifted to bringing Westacott and BCA members including BHP boss Andrew Mackenzie and Qantas chief Alan Joyce to speak to local communities, including in Townsville, where an event is being held today.
The new small-target strategy — partly headed by former Malcolm Turnbull adviser Gemma Daley — is canvassing everything from scuba diving trainer shortages to free trade.
Centre Ground had been portrayed by some BCA critics as a shady partisan outfit meant to counter GetUp, but it managed just two fairly uncontroversial campaigns in its short life: extending trading hours in South Australia; and promoting trade in Tasmania.
The McQueen rule?
We’re not saying it has anything to do with federal Liberal vice-president Teena McQueen’s bizarre debut on ABC’s Q&A program on Monday, but a decree has been issued from Liberal head office on Tuesday.
Appearances by Liberal office bearers, including federal vice-president Teena McQueen, will have to be vetted by the election campaign team from Monday.Credit: Sky News
From next Monday, no party office bearer can appear in the media without a green light from campaign HQ, effectively a declaration that campaign rules have kicked in.
The move has fuelled speculation among some Liberals that Prime Minister Scott Morrison is close to calling the official start to the campaign after the budget on Tuesday.
We don’t envy federal Liberal director Andrew Hirst, who will now have responsibility for adjudicating whether McQueen should continue with her Sky News Australia appearances — where she is known for her forthright style — and other media commentary.
As the Herald reported on Tuesday, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham and Liberal president Nick Greiner, at a mid-February meeting, attempted to counsel her about her appearances.
McQueen’s cringe-worthy Q&A performance did bring joy to some Liberal MPs, one of whom almost wet themselves after reminding this column of a reference written by 2GB breakfast host Alan Jones for her during the preselection race for the NSW Liberals last year.
“Her firm articulation of the proper response of the Liberal Party to contemporary concerns has been both instructive and illuminating,” he wrote.
Hawker out
Bruce Hawker — long-time lobbyist, Michael Daley former senior adviser and a friend of this column — is departing Macquarie Street after a bruising campaign which he steered into a ditch.
Back to the private sector, we are told.
Bruce Hawker.Credit: Harrison Saragossi
But where exactly is a mystery, because as it turns out, his Campaigns and Communications Group outfit is no more. An application for voluntary deregistration was lodged by Hawker with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission this month.
Another company — Campaign Consultants International — which he co-owned with Luca Bader, an adviser to former Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni, has also been shuttered.
However, having worked with clients including Macquarie and Telstra, we anticipate there is already a long line of corporates willing to pay up for Hawker’s pearls of wisdom.
Monday lunch watch
After Saturday night drinks at the Sofitel Wentworth and Sunday night drinks at Hotel CBD, the Coalition pushed through to Monday evening drinks at Pyrmont’s Terminus Hotel.
This time it was Transport Minister Andrew Constance and his staff. He was, we are told, absent from the Sunday night drinks, but on Monday he made time to attend a lunch marking the departure of senior infrastructure adviser Ryan Smith.