Job offers and political influence

An interesting section of the ‘Corruption in America’ is the discussion on the corrupting nature of suggesting that a political figure may be employed once they leave the political arena. The effect is to create a conflict between the present and future self of the elected official. The officials’ present responsibilities are to the voters and their best interests while the prospect of future employment may turn a politician to elevate consideration of the welfare of a particular company .

Teachout quotes Jack Abramoff who said that once an official responded, even slightly to a job offer, he knew that there was influence in place.

The rules in Australia are summarised as:

The current federal ministerial standards require that ministers do not lobby, advocate for or have business meetings with government, parliamentarians or the defence force on “any matters on which they have had official dealings” in the past 18 months. The standards also say that ministers should not use information they have obtained in office for private gain.

My question is, therefore, could we consider the suite of potential emission reduction policies that could be have been implemented over the last five years and the whereabouts of ex-Ministers from that period.

I am going to use the Inevitable Policy Response (IPR) as the set of policy measures as it is most easily adaptable and covers the key emissions areas.

Consider the Abbot Mininstry (sworn in 18 September 2013 and in place until the leadership spill in 14 September 2015) as this period included the carbon tax repeal legislation received Royal Assent on 14 July 2014.

Where are the ex-Ministers now?

• Tony Abbot (Prime Minister) – no stated employment
• Warren Truss (Deputy Prime Minister/ Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development) – Chair of Australian Rail Track Corporation and Treasurer of Liberal Party
• Julie Bishop (Minister for Foreign Affairs) – Non-executive Director at Palladium
• George Brandis (Attorney General and Minister for the Arts) – Australian High Commissioner to the UK
• Joe Hockey (Treasurer) – former Ambassador to the US and now lecturer at American University
• Christopher Pyne (Minister for Education) – lobbyist company for defence companies – discussion here
• Nigel Scullion (Minister for Indigenous Affairs) – no stated employment
• Ian MacFarlane (Minister for Industry) – Chair of Queensland Resources Council – a heated organisation when discussing reducing coal mining
• Malcolm Turnbull (Minister for Communications) – KKR & Co (private equity) senior advisor
• Bruce Billson (Minister for Small Business) – Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre (only referred on Linkedin) and Chair of Judo Bank (Lender to SMEs)
• Andrew Robb (Minister for Trade and Investment) – Board Member of the Kidman cattle enterprise, Chair of Asialink, Asialink Business and CNSDose, and strategic advisor to Beef Innovations Australia
• David Johnston (Minister for Defence) – Defence Export Advocate
• Jamie Briggs (Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development) – Director at PWC for cities, infrastructure and defence