Rudd Called On Conflict Of Interest

Sun Herald

Sunday March 2, 2008

By Jason Koutsoukis

THE wife of Kevin Rudd's chief of staff has taken over the Canberra office of lobbying outfit Government Relations Australia (GRA), raising concerns of a potential conflict of interest.

Sandra Eccles - wife of David Epstein - was a senior adviser to former federal industry minister John Button from 1986 to 1988 and was a senior public servant within the Federal Industry Department from late 1991 to 1996.

Ms Eccles is listed as the general manager of GRA.

Before Mr Epstein was appointed as Mr Rudd's chief-of-staff last June, he was a director at GRA, which describes itself as "a bi-partisan strategic advisory firm specialising in public policy and government affairs".

Previously, Mr Epstein had held senior staff positions in the Keating government and was a chief of staff to Kim Beazley when he was leader of the opposition.

Among GRA's present directors are former Keating government treasurer John Dawkins, former NSW Liberal MP Michael Yabsley, former federal Labor MP Christian Zahra, and Scott Gartrell, who is a first cousin to ALP national secretary Tim Gartrell.

The federal Opposition special minister of state, Michael Ronaldson, said the community was entitled to know how Mr Rudd planned to manage conflict-of-interest concerns about Mr Epstein.

"At worst this represents a clear, 180-degree turnaround from what Mr Rudd promised regarding disclosure and transparency issues regarding the lobbying industry," Senator Ronaldson said.

© 2008 Sun Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home