Political “jobs for mates” are undermining Australian democracy, a new report has found, with more than one in five government board positions given to people with political connections.
A new report from the Grattan Institute shows that seven per cent of federal government appointees have a direct political connection, with this number rising to 21 per cent for federal government board positions that are well paid, powerful or prestigious. For example, half of board members at the Productivity Commission have a political connection to the Coalition.
Meanwhile, many government boards, tribunals, and agencies are occupied with people who have previously worked in politics and most often, these people are connected to the political party that was in power at the time they got the job.
At Government Business Enterprises like Australia Post, Sydney Water and the NBN, many well-paid roles are filled by former politicians, staffers, and party officials. The report says that board stacking at these enterprises “appears to be rife”, with at least one in 10 appointees to boards having direct political connections.
According to the Grattan Institute’s report, the “political stacking” of positions is particularly evident on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, where 20 per cent of members have a direct political connection to the government that appointed them. It’s an issue that’s become more prevalent over the past 5 years under the previous Coalition government – many appointments were made on “election eve”, just before the 2019 and 2022 federal elections.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal is an important body that provides oversight on government decisions, and its independence is crucial.
“There are currently 320 members of the AAT. Of these 70, or 22 per cent, have a direct political affiliation,” the report states. “It is unlikely that such a high proportion of politically affiliated people would emerge from a completely merit-based recruitment process.”
“If experience in politics was judged to be useful for the AAT, we would expect to find members with political connections on both sides of politics. Yet of the 70 politically affiliated members, 64 (91 per cent) are connected to the party that appointed them.”
Lead author of the report and CEO of the Grattan Institute Danielle Wood said we all suffer when “mateship” prevails over merit.
“Of course, not all political appointments are without merit, but politicising public appointments can compromise the performance of government agencies, promote a corrupt culture, and undermine public trust in the institutions of government,” Wood said.
“If the new federal government is serious about improving the way politics is done in Australia, it should set about ending the insidious jobs-for-mates culture- and the state and territory governments should get on board,” she said.
The report makes several recommendations to fix the “jobs for mates” culture and calls on all governments, both state and federal, to establish a transparent, merit-based selection process for public appointments.
Recommendations include: all public board, tribunal, and statutory appointments should be advertised with clear selection criteria, an independent panel including the Public Appointments Commissioner should oversee appointments, and the relevant minister should only be able to chose from a provided shortlist of candidates.
“These appointments are not ‘nice things to give mates’, they are important roles that should be filled with the most meritorious candidates,” the report states.
“A robust process can help change culture. In the public service, where more structure around recruitment processes has long been required, the idea of merit-based recruitment is deeply entrenched. We hope a restoration of the same principles for positions with ministerial discretion will help rebuild important norms, and therefore improve the way politics is done in Australia.”
Since taking government, Labor has indicated an interest in tackling the politicisation of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, with Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus doing a review of the tribunal, including looking at whether the body can be disbanded all together.
“I am now carefully considering how I can undo the damage of the last nine years, and ensure the AAT once again serves the interests of all Australians, not just the Liberal Party and its mates,” Dreyfus told Nine papers last month.