Nothing opens a door quicker than the words “former defence minister”.
Christophe Pyne has been given another line to add to his CV, this time as an adviser to one of the country’s biggest beneficiaries of defence contracts.
Brisbane-based NIOA hardly basks in the limelight but it has managed to use its trading platform to become one of the government’s go-to arms dealers.
In the last year alone the small arms and ammunition supplier has achieved what many contractors could only dream of: 66 government contracts, many worth millions, and many done under a limited tender arrangement, including an $18 million contract to supply weapons and ammunition in May.
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Pyne’s relationship with NIOA — not an acronym but the name of the family behind the business — goes back some years.
In 2018 as defence minister Pyne shook hands with NIOA chief executive Robert Nioa after the company took up tenancy at a Commonwealth-owned munitions factory in Benalla, Victoria.
And in January that year Pyne was photographed “checking out [NIOA’s] capability” at its Brisbane headquarters after the government handed it a $100 million contract for the supply of weapons and ammunition.
Nioa said Pyne would bring “tremendous personal qualities and unique skillsets” to the company at an important time in its growth.
‘’As the minister for defence, he led Australia’s defence industry through a period of unprecedented growth and change,” he said in a press release.
Also joining the company as an adviser is David Feeney, the former Labor senator, federal MP and parliamentary secretary for defence, and retired Major General Gus McLachlan, who was the head of the Australian Army modernisation program.
Gun for hire
Pyne’s controversial leap into lobbying less than a month after leaving federal parliament prompted an inquiry into whether he had breached ministerial standards.
Former ministers are not allowed to lobby on matters for which they held ministerial responsibility for 18 months after leaving parliament, however Pyne was cleared of any breach by the former Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Martin Parkinson.
But it’s not hard to see why you want “the fixer” on your side when competing for government contracts.
As defence minister he oversaw a $200 billion investment in Australia’s military capability — the largest in the nation’s peacetime history.
And in August he proved his worth, with his client Saber Astronautics securing two federal government grants worth almost $7 million to help develop Australia’s space capabilities.
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Have they no shame?
The same mob spending half a billion to “upgrade” the Australian War Memorial into a showroom for their new pet arms industry?…no.
Clearly not.
Had they a shred, they would not do what they do.
Griselda, that word isn’t even in their lexicon. This is something on which the public needs to rage as it’s Corruption 101.
Pyne’s pet, self generating kudos project, the $90bn submarine fleet will probably be obsolete by the time they hit the water in 10 years time.
The hilariously cheap countermeasure technology or underwater drones are apparently the big disruptor, that will literally blow the new subs out of the water.The same underwater technology against which new subs will have no defences.
So why would any “merchant of death” want to hire the fool that blew $90bn of other people’s money.
The “ex defence minister” /”ex fixer” minx, will be in his late but not
pining 60’s, when his disastrous legacy will be on full show, for all to see.
This knowledge of Pyne’s forthcoming , well deserved and ultimate humiliation is something to be relished and savoured.
“… will literally blow the new subs out of the water.”
That would be surprising. It’s more likely countermeasures will leave the subs under the water, permanently. But that is a pedantic quibble. Your basic point – that the subs risk being relics, as obsolete and vulnerable as surface ships like HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse in 1941, is fair enough.
…and HMS Prince of Wales was almost brand new. However, it’s loss has been since attributed to a detailed design flaw,and inferior tactics, rather than obsolescence. US battleships did rather well in the Pacific in later years of WW2
Yes, back then where surface ships could operate under comprehensive air cover they were still useful. It could be the same with the subs, mutatis mutandis, if adequate protection can be devised, provided and deployed to neutralise the latest anti-submarine technology. And if the subs are still worth having once we account for all those add-ons. Does anyone imagine Pyne and his mates are up to speed on this, or are they just enjoying the fun of spending other people’s billions on new toys, where the purpose is not so much defence per se as propping up their voting base and securing themselves lucrative gigs?
That’s true . Still , the Commonwealth Force’s Fleet Arm , wobbling under the Washington Treaty ‘ of 1922 , toiled on , with loss and victory , till the end .
Brian Toohey at Michael West Media, a coupla days ago.
If you understand the very hot s’fight, going on at the moment, after Anthony Klan revealed Nine Entertainment telling porkies over signing the old Fairfax (journalism) ‘Independence Charter’, you’ll understand why Brian Toohey is now being published at places like ‘Westie’s.
This latest expose of BT’s is another tour de force down among the grime of the political/militarism connection, where bog standard corruption elevates to epic, once you understand the utter incompetence of the ‘industry’ here, and how that is so fruitfully harvested by the State sponsored (‘hello, China!) criminality of our global masters.
Very happy to report BT coitanly hasn’t ‘lost it’.
The man IS a journalist. Ergo, very, very rare.
Once again Jobs for ex government boys….just like Robb moving into his role negotiating with China after being trade minister for a while.
Of course watch dogs…..will be defunded…That is the whole purpose of the stripping the ABC of talent, funding and know how for a start. Branch stacking has gone on for years!! Or branch buying depending on her political prediliction.
Cant we just have a bit more ethical and fair distribution of resources in a tranparent way. Stop the snouts from getting to the trough, and, for goodness sake, stop privatising education and health and neccesities like water.