From The Mandarin:
A London-based executive of a scandal-plagued financial giant is set to become the nation’s next chief economist and most powerful bureaucrat.
John Fraser heads the asset management group at Swiss bankers UBS. But he spent two decades in Canberra at the pointy end of Treasury and according to media reports will have Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson’s job by the end of the year.
The 63-year-old Monash-trained economist was Treasury’s point man in Washington under Paul Keating and become deputy secretary for a three-year stint in 1990. He then chased the obscene money in the private sector, joining the Swiss Bank Corporation in Australia, which later merged with UBS.
Fraser was one of the few executives to keep his job in a post-GFC clean-out at UBS which came to the brink of collapse. He told The Australian earlier this year he was “appalled” at a series of scandals — the Swiss government had to bail out the bank after a series of missteps — and threatened to quit. “I resigned and gave my 12 months’ notice in August 2008 as I was so fed up with the whole situation,” he said.
…Saul Eslake was interviewed for his first job at Treasury by Fraser in 1978 and worked under him for a time. “He probably would have been a candidate for the job years ago if he had stayed,” Eslake told The Mandarin.
Eslake was appalled at the treatment of Parkinson — the government made it clear he wasn’t their pick but finally urged him to stay until this year — but believes Fraser would be an “inspired choice”. “There’s no doubt about his capacity to work with and understand the bureaucracy, but he also brings a hell of a lot more,” he said.
Percy Allan, a former New South Wales Treasury secretary, knew Fraser well during his time in Canberra. He notes his “vast experience” in international finance during the GFC, “which would be invaluable back at Treasury”.
In 1996, Fraser was picked by Peter Costello to head the Howard government’s commission of audit and was an architect of the Charter of Budget Honesty. “Many states have replicated this model,” Allan said, “helping transform national and state elections in Australia from pork-barrelling exercises into competitions about who can offer the most credible fiscal policies.
Nothing to add at this point except it’s worrying to see another plutocrat move into government. Having said that, perhaps more markets experience can lift Treasury’s shocking forecasting record.
