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The first public servant sacked under the Crisafulli government has landed a plum new job in Canberra, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese tapping Mike Kaiser to head his Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
David Crisafulli’s first act as Queensland premier was to sack Kaiser, a former Labor state MP who the LNP routinely criticised as a political appointment to the public service.
On Tuesday, Albanese said he would recommend to Governor-General Sam Mostyn that she appoint Kaiser to the senior role in the Commonwealth public service.
Mike Kaiser has been appointed Secretary of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
“Mr Kaiser has extensive experience in both the public and private sectors including in senior roles in the Queensland public service, having served as Director-General of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Director-General of the Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning, and as Director General of the Department of Resources,” he said.
“Mr Kaiser’s experience includes delivering on large-scale projects, administering complex regulatory regimes and leading the Queensland government’s policies on planning and infrastructure.”
Kaiser will start his new role next Monday, marking the start of a five-year appointment.
Posting on LinkedIn, Kaiser said the new job was worth the eight-month wait, during which time he was a freelance consultant.
“A consequential agenda. Passionate stakeholders. An outstanding team. High expectations. A lot to deliver,” he said.
“Thank you to those who stayed in touch over recent months. I’ve appreciated it. Back to work, now for the people of Australia.”
At the time of his sacking at the hands of the new Queensland LNP government, Kaiser defended Crisafulli’s right to terminate his employment.
“I fully respect his decision and hope my attitude goes some way to overcoming the nonsense that premiers can’t choose their head of department in a modern democracy,” he said in October.
For his part, Crisafulli said he was grateful for Kaiser’s assistance during the transition to his new government.
“He has prepared an incoming brief for us, and it’s a brief that we will use to get to work,” he said during his first media conference as premier in October.
“I want to thank Mike for the way that he’s conducted himself.”
Kaiser was well-regarded in business and public service circles, having reformed his character following an early career political scandal. He was forced to resign his seat in the Queensland parliament in 2001 after his role in a 1986 branch stacking scheme was uncovered by the Shepherdson Inquiry into electoral fraud.
The inquiry found evidence that he had signed a false enrolment form in 1986 as a 22-year-old university student, which he conceded he “may have wrongly been involved” in.
Kaiser quit the party to sit on the crossbench, but ultimately gave up the seat and has since reflected on – and owned – the “really stupid” choice he made as a young man.
Considered a key Labor strategist and rising star, Mr Kaiser would go on to serve as federal Labor’s assistant national secretary in the lead-up to the 2004 election, before working as a chief of staff to both NSW premier Morris Iemma and Queensland premier Anna Bligh. Kaiser also had stint as head of quality at NBN Co.
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