Public kept in dark as banker joins power board at last minute

Public kept in dark as banker joins power board at last minute
Sean Nicholls December 30, 2010
THE Treasurer, Eric Roozendaal, quietly appointed a former senior executive at Macquarie Bank, Michael Lilley, to the board of the state-owned power company Delta Electricity within hours of the infamous ''midnight sale'' of NSW power assets.
But Mr Roozendaal has made no mention of appointing Mr Lilley, despite announcing the names of two other directors he was forced to hurriedly appoint late at night to the Delta board after four directors quit in protest at the sale.
Mr Lilley, whose expertise is in public private partnerships, worked for Macquarie as its head of government business. This involved persuading governments to include Macquarie in deals such as the privatisation of public assets. It is understood he left about six months ago.
A spokesman for Mr Roozendaal confirmed that Mr Lilley was appointed on the afternoon of December 15, the day after the $5.3 billion sale was forced through just before midnight. But it was not mentioned, the spokesman said, because ''the appointment process was not complete'' by the time the Treasurer held his 9.30am press conference at which he announced the new directors.
He said Mr Lilley had no role in the sale and the appointment was ''part of the normal process of filling board vacancies''. However, two board vacancies on the other state-owned power company involved in the sale, Eraring Energy, remain unfilled after the resignation of four of its directors on the same evening the Delta directors did so.
The Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, said Mr Lilley's ''sec- ret appointment'' illustrated the need for greater scrutiny of the power sale. ''The fact [the Premier] Kristina Keneally and Eric Roozendaal have kept this secret appointment from the public for nearly a fortnight only adds to the public's concerns that this sell-off is bad for NSW,'' he said.
''The failure of the Keneally Labor government to declare this appointment only increases the need for the parliamentary power inquiry to proceed and report back to the people of NSW before the election.'' Ms Keneally argued that advice from the Crown Solicitor from 1994 showed an inquiry into the power sale, planned for January 17 and 18, would be illegal because it was established after she prorogued Parliament last week.
Following criticism by the Greens MP David Shoebridge that the advice was outdated, Ms Keneally yesterday revealed her department has written to the Crown Solicitor, Ian Knight, seeking confirmation that it remained his view.
Mr Knight is on leave until January 10, but the Department of Premier and Cabinet had requested he report ''as soon as practically possible'', she said. She could not say if that would be before the inquiry began. The Premier also revealed that the NSW Auditor-General, Peter Achterstraat, had begun ''inquiries to Treasury'' into the power sale. But she could not say if the inquiries were for a special report on the sale.


http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/public-kept-in-dark-as-banker-joins-power-board-at-last-minute-20101229-19a9n.html