Rear Window
The Australian Local Government Association pulled off quite a coup in hiring Amy Crawford as its new CEO last month.
Representing the peak local government body now is a career bureaucrat with impeccable Canberra connections. Seriously: she was hired straight from Local Government Minister Kristy McBain’s office, where she was a senior adviser.
Local Government Minister Kristy McBain, with former local government minister Anthony Albanese. Alex Ellinghausen
It’s hard to think of anyone more in-tune with the federal government’s intentions for this sector, apart perhaps from McBain herself.
This kind of transfer, it’s worth noting, is entirely within the bounds of the Lobbying Code of Conduct, which prohibits Crawford from lobbying her recent former boss on behalf of third-party clients but explicitly allows her to lobby her old boss on behalf of an employer. Go figure.
The Crawford appointment shows that when it comes to political influence, the ALGA is aiming high. And with Anthony Albanese in charge, they should.
The prime minister is fondly remembered throughout the sector as an unusually engaged local government minister (he held the role in Kevin Rudd’s first cabinet), and for having personally delivered many a cheque to councils near and far during the global financial crisis.
He was also a proponent of a long-proposed amendment to recognise local government in the Constitution, which cynics point out would allow ever-greater direct federal funding of pools, parks and other photo opportunities.
Such an amendment was Rudd policy, for a while, but was pulled from the ballot at the 2013 election after bipartisan support for it collapsed.
Albanese has his hands full these days. But if whatever happens on October 14 doesn’t scare his government off ever touching any referendum ever again, the ALGA stands ready. And, via its new boss, well-placed to ask for a few meetings.
Local government lobby hires straight from minister's office - The Australian Financial Review
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