Chris Barrett — Jim Chalmers’ former boss — is the new head of the Productivity Commission. Will he keep its independence intact?
It was July 2018, and the Turnbull government — shortly before it was blown up by Peter Dutton — had just appointed veteran Liberal staffer Phil Gaetjens to head Treasury under Scott Morrison, as well as Mathias Cormann’s former chief of staff, Simon Atkinson, as deputy secretary. Another Treasury deputy secretary, former Nick Minchin staffer Michael Brennan, had been moved over to replace Peter Harris as chair of the Productivity Commission.
Labor’s then-shadow treasurer Chris Bowen was furious, saying, “Morrison sneaking out highly political appointments to the Productivity Commission and Treasury late last Friday afternoon was nothing short of a disgrace.”
“There are serious questions to be answered,” Bowen said, “around the so-called ‘panel’ process that led to Mr Michael Brennan’s appointment to the chair of the Productivity Commission.”
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