The Albanese government is paying consultant giant McKinsey more than $1m to model Australia’s fuel supply and is paying the national taskforce co-ordinator a higher annual rate than the Prime Minister and close to that of the Reserve Bank governor.
Following a national cabinet meeting on Monday, Anthony Albanese revealed that fuel supply was now “looking secure into July”, saying 43 days of petrol, 38 days of diesel and 31 days of jet fuel were locked in.
However, the Prime Minister warned that there would be a “tail” of uncertainty even if the Middle East conflict ended.
“This is volatile and uncertain times, and I want to make it clear that when the conflict ends, that doesn’t mean that the economic tail concludes,” Mr Albanese said. “There will be a period of time before ships are able to go through the Strait of Hormuz. So, there’s a tail here.”
The Prime Minister’s comments came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal to end the war with Iran could materialise “today”, while adding that Israel had the right to defend itself against attack.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the world had “thrown a lot at Australia’s fuel supply over the last two months”, but the nation’s “fuel security is good”.
A Senate hearing on Monday revealed that McKinsey so far had been paid a total of $1.24m in fees for the modelling of the supply of fuels to Australia. More than $746,000 was for initial work from McKinsey between April 20 and May 9.
Following questions from Liberal senator Dave Sharma, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s first assistant secretary for fuel supply taskforce, Janet Quigley, confirmed the government was also paying new co-ordinator Anthea Harris $233,676 for work between March 23 and June 30. The contract provides for so-called roll-ons.
“That’s basically a million dollars a year annualised, right?” Senator Sharma said.
“What was the basis for setting that figure, because it seems, I think, higher than any commonwealth public servant receives in salary, except perhaps the RBA governor.
“I agree, it’s a very important challenge … which is why I’m still a little shell-shocked by the amount that’s being paid here.
“It just seems extraordinarily high now.”
At an annualised $932,000, that would surpass the Prime Minister’s pay of $607,490 per year and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary’s $897,339, and fall just short of the Reserve Bank governor’s base salary of $987,132.
The department said it “looked at the sort of rates that sit within the management advisory service panel” and determined that the level of pay “accurately reflects” the work Ms Harris was doing.
More than $9m has been allocated to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet for the taskforce, with funding locked in until December 30.
Each state and territory has appointed its own co-ordinators, for whom all meet with the national taskforce co-ordinator once a week.
Ms Harris was asked by Nationals leader Matt Canavan whether she had met with any proponents that wanted to build a new oil refinery in Australia, to which she said she had not.
Asked whether she had met with anyone who wanted to build new fuel storage, Ms Harris said she had met with one proponent.
“We have an interest in anything that can contribute to longer-term resilience,” she said.
“To this point, Senator, in the process of the taskforce, we’ve been heavily focused on what can contribute to fuel supplies … very much in the here and now.”
Extracted in full from: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/albaneses-fuel-supply-math-nets-mckinsey-1m-payday/news-story/6caa035efe01db264bbec2dc985231f5
