Wayne Goss was a terrific Premier of Queensland, partly because of the excellent advice he received from his chief of staff in opposition and Cabinet Secretary in government, Kevin Rudd, between 1998 and 1995.
The two Queenslanders remain close as is evidenced by the fact Goss has sat on the board of Therese Rein’s job placement company Ingeus since 2003.
Goss is one of the few politicians who has left office and forged a successful career in business, most notably as chairman of engineering company Ausenco where he has built up a shareholding worth almost $20 million.
This means Goss is now one of the wealthiest former politicians in Australia who at 57 could comfortably retire to a life putting a bit back into the community and advising the Labor cause as an elder statesman.
Alas, the former solicitor has instead decided to take advantage of his connections by becoming a lobbyist for an oligopoly which for decades has depended on government largesse and protection for its super-profits.
Yes, Free TV Australia, which represents Channels Seven, Nine and Ten, has persuaded Goss to become its new “independent chairman”.
The press release included the following quote from Goss:
It’s an exciting time for the industry and a time of significant change … I look forward to working closely with the Government and the community to ensure that Australian families continue to receive the services they have come to value so highly.
The protections afforded to free-to-air licence holders in Australia have helped create fortunes for some of Australia’s most powerful individuals over the years including Frank, Kerry and James Packer, Rupert Murdoch, Kerry Stokes and the Fairfax family.
Their collective lobbying power hobbled the development of a viable pay-TV industry for decades and has arguably also contributed to Australia’s pathetic broadband capacity.
You can’t blame any licensed industry from hiring mates of the regulators to further their cause but we should expect the regulators themselves to uphold appropriate standards.
Wayne Goss presumably spoke to Kevin Rudd before accepting the appointment, so our new Prime Minister has some questions to answer.
A close friend who is paid by Kevin Rudd’s wife wearing one hat simply should not became a key lobbyist for an industry whose future hangs on further government protection through the maintenance of policies such as the anti-siphoning list for sports broadcasting.
At the very least, Wayne Goss should now resign from the Ingeus board and Kevin Rudd should declare a conflict of interest in Cabinet when it comes to policies affecting commercial television.
However, a far simpler solution would be for Goss to admit he made a mistake and resign, but that won’t happen unless the media and opposition crank up the issue.
Crikey is prepared to give it a push. Is anybody else? Hmmm, this could be a good demonstration of free TV power in Australia.
*Today Mayne Report video is on last week’s partially successful Alumina board tilt.
See how power works in this country.
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That’s quite a conflict of interest there, he can’t possibly continue to be associated with Therese Rein’s business, and lobby the govt. It puts more junior members of the govt under duress to treat him more favourably than they might if no business relationship with Rein. But then the Qld ALP has no trouble rehiring Mike Kaiser in 2008, after being parked in NSW with Iemma, promoted through the Goss machine way back then: “But Mike Kaiser’s political world came crashing down late yesterday when he admitted to the Shepherdson Inquiry into electoral fraud that he’d signed a false enrolment form in 1986.” 11/1/2001 at http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/stories/s232576.htm … What readers might keep in mind is that the Fitzgerald Inquiry wound up in 1989 but actually I understand it was planning to move on from the Nationals to the ALP. Only Beattie regarded it as a ‘ lawyers picnic’ which i presume we are supposed to believe is better than ‘a politician’s picnic’?
“FreeTV” should be taken to task by the ACCC for deceptive marketing anyway. What’s free about it? Think about the products you buy and the TV advertising that company spends and YOU are paying for “free” TV. What do they spend it on? Big Brother and Sam Newman. Don’t let people tell you that funding the ABC is a tax, when commercial TV is raping their product purchases. The ABC is good value compared to “FreeTV”.
…why are the many iffy odours frequently rising from the Rudd family business never given any media attention? …from stamp duty fraud, undeclared business interests, mates jobs, crime cover-ups etc…? I know, it’s called ‘muck raking’ or ‘blame game’ by the outraged. I met Bob Carr at his book launch in Melbourne yesterday and really enjoyed telling him of our disappointment in the new ‘no-ideas-rock- star’ PM.