"Nev Power: The Prime Minister 'rang me ... and said your country needs you.' " [Financial Review, 3 April 2020]
On
20 March 2020 Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook
Scott Morrison created the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC) to “ coordinate advice to the
Australian Government on actions to anticipate and mitigate the
economic and social impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic” and
“advise the Prime Minister on all non-health aspects of the
pandemic response”.
This
is a list of NCCC commission members and key staff for the period 23 March to 22
September 2020 with remuneration for their services where known:
Chairman
Neville
Power,
Deputy Chairman of Strike Energy Ltd an oil and gas exploration company –
remuneration by PM&C contract $294,079.50. Power has announced he is temporarily stepping aside from his position at Strike Energy to avoid perceptions of conflict of interest. However, he appears to be retaining 12,612,885 fully paid Strike Energy shares (worth in the vicinity of $2.4 milllion) & options on 6 million more held by his own Myube discretionary investment trust.
Deputy
Chairman
David
Thodey, Chairman CSIRO – paid
expenses only
Commissioners
Greg
Combet, consultant, Chairman of IFM Investors and Industry Super
Australia - remuneration by PM&C contract $118,800
Jane
Halton, board member ANZ, Clayton Utz, Crown Resorts, Australian
Strategic Policy Institute, US Institute of Health Metrics and
Evaluation and
chairman
of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, COTA, Crown
Sydney and Vault Systems - remuneration by PM&C contract $118,800
Paul
Little,
property
developer, Chairman and Founder of the Little Group, Chairman
of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation and Skalata Ventures
-
remuneration by
PM&C contract $108,000
for
2 days per week
Catherine
Tanna,
Managing Director of EnergyAustralia, board
member Reserve Bank of Australia and Business Council of Australia
–
remuneration by
PM&C contract $54,000
for
1 day per week
Key
Staff
Peter
Harris,
public policy adviser, CEO
of NCCC
– remuneration N/K
Executive
Assistant to Chairman NCCC
– remuneration by
PM&C contract $73,000 paid into the same Myube discretionary investment trust as the remuneration received by NCCC Chairman.
Advisors
Andrew
N. Liveris,
special
advisor to NCCC, board
member IBM,
Worley Parsons, Saudi Aramco, on advisory board of Sumitomo Mitsui
Banking Corporation and NEOM, controversial
former
Chairman
& CEO
of
Dow
Chemical and Trump supporter– remuneration N/K
For the more than $885,479 in taxpayer dollars spent
on this commission over a six month period, Australia gets a website of sorts pmc.gov.au/nccc along with a Twitter account NCCCgovau and, what is shaping up to be a lack of transparency and
accountability concerning
advice this commission gives behind closed doors to government.
According
to The
Guardian
on 21 May 2020:
A
leaked draft report by a manufacturing taskforce advising the
National Covid-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC) recommends the
Morrison government make sweeping changes to “create the market”
for gas and build fossil fuel infrastructure that would operate for
decades.
Its
vision includes Canberra underwriting an increased national gas
supply, government agencies partnering with companies to accelerate
development of new fields such as the Northern
Territory’s vast Beetaloo Basin, and states introducing subsidy
schemes for gas-fired power plants.
It
says the federal government should help develop gas pipelines between
eastern states and the north, and potentially a $6bn
trans-Australian pipeline between the east and west, by either
taking an equity position, minority share or underwriting
investments.
The
taskforce, headed by….Saudi
Aramco board member Andrew Liveris, positions lower-cost gas as
the answer to building a transformed manufacturing sector that it
says could support at least 85,000 direct jobs, and hundreds of
thousands more indirectly.
But
it does not consider alternatives to gas, or what happens if
greenhouse gas emissions are cut as promised under the
2015 Paris climate agreement. Gas is usually described as having
half the emissions of coal when burned, though recent
studies have suggested it could be more.
The
Liveris report does not mention climate change, Australia’s
emissions reduction targets or the financial risk, flagged by institutions in Australia and
overseas, of investing in fossil fuel as emissions are cut.
While
several assessments have found renewable energy backed by storage is
now
the cheapest option for new electricity generation, the report
says gas is “key to driving down electricity cost and improving
investment in globally competitive advanced industry”.
Its
focus is consistent with the NCCC chairman, Nev Power, a former
Fortescue Metals chief and current board member at gas company Strike
Energy, who has said in interviews that cheap gas would be critical
to Australia’s future. Gas has been strongly backed by the prime
minister, Scott Morrison, and the energy and emissions reduction
minister, Angus Taylor, who has argued for a gas-fired recovery from
the pandemic.
According to Friends of the Earth Australia the leaked document also suggests lifting the coal seam gas
moratorium in New South Wales, which is an issue I’m sure the
Northern Rivers region will be keeping a close eye on.
UPDATE
The departmental pushback has come in responses to questions on-notice from the Senate committee examining the government’s response to the pandemic.
Controversy has been escalating about the potential for conflicts of interest among the commissioners handpicked by the prime minister to provide advice at the height of the coronavirus crisis.
The high-powered coordination commission, headed by the former Fortescue Metals chief Nev Power, has a broad remit, advising the government on all non-health aspects of its pandemic response.
But concerns have been raised about the lack of transparency of the group’s deliberations, and the absence of a conventional governance framework for a taxpayer-funded enterprise.
The NCCC has a budget of more than $5m....
The Guardian, 3 May 2020:
When the Daily Telegraph reported last week that a fertiliser plant in Narrabri being advanced by a West Australian businessman had topped the list of the projects being promoted by the National Covid Coordination Commission, there was some surprise.
Vikas Rambal and Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers are not exactly household names, and the controversial Narrabri coal seam gas project – which would provide the cheap gas that the fertiliser project depends on – is yet to be approved by the New South Wales government....
Rambal has not yet sought planning approval of the $1.9bn project and the only tangible signs are press releases promising 700 jobs and a non-binding agreement with the coal seam gas project’s owner, Santos.....
The Daily Telegraph, 24 April 2020:
Mr Rambal’s plant would create up to 800 jobs during construction and 70 to 80 permanent roles in Narrabri, supplying farmers in a 300km radius. “It’s a huge project,” Mr Rambal, who is also advancing a $4.5 billion fertiliser plant in WA, told The Daily Telegraph.
He said Mr Power’s Commission could help by picking up the phone to politicians to remove roadblocks and speed up approvals.
Mr Taylor said making more fertiliser was a “cracking opportunity” for Australia and would help achieve the government’s goal of growing agriculture to a $100 billion-a-year industry by 2030.
He said he was focused on making more gas available.
“I like to think of the other side of COVID-19 as being a gas-fired recovery,” Mr Taylor said.
“We want to see the NSW government get on with (the approvals process for the Santos project).” In January, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she wanted a final decision on the proposal by June 30.
That now looks unlikely. The Independent Planning Commission is yet to receive a referral from the NSW Department of Planning. The IPC will take 12 weeks to make its ruling.
It is unclear if the COVID-19 Commission is now attempting to hurry up the Department of Planning.....
