Losing MP hired back by Liberals
LOSING Liberal MP Nic Street has landed a taxpayer-funded job paying a salary up to $149,000 — as an adviser to one of his party’s other candidates in the electorate he contested.
Mr Street lost his seat at the State Election, with Premier Will Hodgman and Jacquie Petrusma the successful Liberal candidates in Franklin.
The Mercury can reveal he has since joined the staff of now-Minister Petrusma as a senior adviser.
FORMER Liberal MP Nic Street has landed a job paying up to $149,000 as an adviser to minister Jacquie Petrusma.
Mr Street lost his seat in Franklin at the state election, with Premier Will Hodgman and Ms Petrusma the successful Liberal candidates.
He joins the staff of Ms Petrusma — who is now Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Women, Disability Services and Sport — as a senior adviser.
The position attracts a sal- ary of between $126,000 and $149,000, the most recent pay data provided by the Department of Premier and Cabinet shows. Mr Street was on a basic MP’s salary of $136,765, plus allowances, during his time in the House of Assembly.
The State Government advertised statewide for advisers in the weeks after the March 3 election, and a range of positions have been filled.
Mr Street was appointed through the official recruitment process, a government spokeswoman said.
“He brings to the position a significant understanding of politics, stakeholder management and knowledge of local issues,” she said.
The former Kingborough councillor worked as an adviser to Adam Brooks before the Braddon MP was stood down as a minister.
When Paul Harriss quit parliament in 2016, Mr Street replaced him on a countback.
He is regarded as a small-l Liberal whose most memorable speech in parliament was in support of same-sex marriage.
Ms Petrusma voted against in-principle support for samesex marriage in 2015.
Her demotion from the Human Services portfolio in the new Hodgman Government Cabinet has caused Labor to claim Mr Street is being positioned to replace her.
“It appears the Liberals are keeping Nic Street on the books as a taxpayer-funded ready replacement for Jacquie Petrusma,” an ALP spokesman said.
Political scientist Richard Eccleston said it was not unusual for either side of politics to employ former MPs as advisers.
“What’s important in any administrative office is a balance between those with political expertise balanced with more policy expertise,” Professor Eccleston said.
The appointment of the socalled “Three Amigos” — An- drew Nikolic, Eric Hutchinson and Brett Whiteley — to wellpaid government jobs after they lost their seats in 2016 raised eyebrows in some quarters.
Public sector union boss Tom Lynch said Ms Petrusma needed expert advice, particularly with the full National Disability Insurance Scheme coming online in this term of government.
“I won’t say that Labor’s immune from this but the Liberals have turned this jobs-forthe-boys into an art form,” Mr Lynch said.