Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has appointed former SA Labor Premier Jay Weatherill to the position of High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
It comes after a string of partisan Labor Party appointments by Mr Albanese, including Stephen Jones as ambassador to the OECD and Kevin Rudd as ambassador to the US.
“He is an entirely appropriate appointment. He served as South Australia’s 45th Premier for over six years,” Mr Albanese said on Monday.
“As a proud South Australian, as our future High Commissioner, Jay is well placed to take forward AUKUS in our nation’s interests.”
Asked directly at the press conference if the string of partisan appointments had anything to do with the delay in the government’s handling of the “jobs for mates” report, Mr Albanese said, “No”.
The government was given a scathing grade on key integrity measures in the Centre for Public Integrity’s report card.
The report accused the Labor government of showing “little appetite” for reforming the “jobs for mates” culture.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles was recently questioned about the two-year delay of findings from the Lynelle Briggs report into government board positions.
“The matter is in front of the cabinet and it is there to be considered,” Mr Marles told the House of Representatives in October, 2025.
“The cabinet is working through the process of considering the report and we will respond to it.”
The Albanese government later threatened to strip committee positions from the opposition in retaliation for demanding more scrutiny of its activities in the senate.
The opposition voted alongside independent David Pocock to extend senate Question Time over the government’s withholding the “jobs for mates” report.
Mr Pocock led the transparency push as part of efforts to make public the report by Ms Briggs, the former public service commissioner.
“The government is refusing to release a report that they said would be made public and they have no grounds to withhold it,” Mr Pocock said recently.
“We’ve been trying to get it out of them for a long time now and we’re ratcheting up the pressure until they release it.”
The dispute added to ongoing transparency concerns, after the Albanese government attempted to impose a “truth tax” on Freedom of Information documents.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised when he came to power to deliver the most transparent government.
He said the public deserved “accountability and transparency, not secrecy,” and claimed his government was “unashamedly an open government”.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen came under fire after the release of a heavily redacted ministerial brief following multiple senate orders.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke also faced accusations of secrecy over his response to the return of ISIS brides to Australia.
The Albanese government has also failed on five of six integrity metrics, according to an independent research institute’s latest report.
