Marles and Pyne: the game of mates plays on as questions on probity count for little

Is there no end to the Richard Marles-Christopher Pyne double act?

The Albanese government’s defence minister has agreed to speak at a ticket-only networking event hosted by former MP Pyne, Marles’ old sparring partner, who has become one of Australia’s leading defence industry lobbyists. The so-called DSR Summit will be held In Sydney next week, according to an invitation received by Crikey.

For between $500 and $800 defence industry types will be able to rub shoulders with “ministers, thought leaders, and department decision-makers” while hearing from key speakers from government “and other defence sector stalwarts” on the impact of the government’s Defence Strategic Review, released this week.

The arrangement is a cosy one on a number of levels.

Apart from being a former minister for defence himself, Pyne’s lobbying firm, Pyne and Partners, is going gangbusters, with a growing list of defence clients including at least one he dealt with in his time as minister. As we reported, Pyne has also ramped up his US operations, creating an alliance with a high-powered firm of Washington attorneys. On top of that he is chair of the advisory board of the Australian Missile Corporation, a privately owned Queensland company which happens to also have former ALP figure David Feeney on its advisory board. (Feeney is one of Marles’ old Victorian factional allies.) 

For years the two senior politicians have been the best of enemies. When Pyne delivered his tear-stained farewell address to Parliament he gave a special nod to Marles, the member for the Victorian seat of Corio, sitting across from him on the opposition benches. Before that the two were the double act on Pyne & Marles, a weekly Sky News program which enjoyed a five-season run, finishing in 2019 when Pyne retired from Parliament. 

Can it be only four years since Pyne stood accused of acting in a way which was an “egregious affront” to the public’s expectations of how a former minister should behave?

Forgiving and forgetting

In 2019 Pyne was subject to a Senate inquiry into whether or not he had breached the Morrison government’s ministerial code of conduct, after he was engaged by accounting firm EY (once known as Ernst and Young) to advise on defence matters after quitting as defence minister.

The ALP-chaired committee of inquiry officially described the chain of events this way: “In April 2019, while he was still a minister, Mr Pyne met with EY to discuss ‘his interest in utilising his experience as a politician and minister to assist a professional services firm grow their private sector defence industry business’. Nine days later, EY made a formal offer to Mr Pyne which he accepted within three days.

“Mr Pyne formally ceases as defence minister on 26 May 2019. Within two weeks, Mr Pyne had commenced work for EY. Mr Pyne is also a part owner of GC Advisory, a public affairs, strategic communications advisory company. GC Advisory is registered on the lobbyist register and Mr Pyne is listed as a registered lobbyist.

“During the course of this committee’s inquiry, GC Advisory listed a defence supplier — duMonde Group– as a client. Austender records show that duMonde has received $6 million in contracts from the Department of Defence, including during the period that Mr Pyne was minister. GC Advisory removed duMonde Group from the registry after questions were asked about it during one of this inquiry’s public hearings.”

Then-senator Rex Patrick, an independent member of the committee, was blunt in his criticism of Pyne: “Mr Pyne’s decision to negotiate (08 April 2019) and accept a new job (20 April 2019) in the defence sector whilst still the minister for defence, and then taking up that defence consultancy role (07 June 2019) within two weeks of leaving the ministry (29 May 2019) is a most egregious affront to the public’s expectations of the standards to which ministers should adhere to, although I concede that this does not constitute a technical breach of the statement of ministerial standards (but it highlights what are clearly flaws in the standards).

“Had this been the conduct of a minister in a Labor government, I have no doubt given Mr Pyne’s political history, he would have been at the forefront of the condemnation of such action. It would appear that, at the very least, his political instincts and more importantly, his integrity and ethics were diminished in the latter months of his service as a minister.”

Pyne’s defence, included in a dissenting report from Liberal senators, was that he had not taken personal advantage of information he received as a minister in the defence portfolio that was not otherwise publicly available. Nor, he said, had he lobbied or had business meetings with any members of the government, public service or defence force on any matters he had had official dealings as a minister in the past 18 months.

In light of the information which emerged, the Senate committee recommended that then-prime minister Scott Morrison reopen an investigation into Pyne’s possible breaches of the ministerial standards, having previously found no breach.

Luckily for Pyne, the government’s deputy prime minister has been happy to forgive and forget Pyne’s antics which were so scathingly dealt with by Labor in opposition.

Either that, or getting worked up about standards was all just a political game in the first place.

Are you uncomfortable with this cosy relationship? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.