The Australian - Shorten speechwriter’s $620k deal – every word a gem

Bill Shorten’s speechwriter is likely to be paid $620,000 over two years, with the Coalition arguing it undermines his push to cut wasteful spending from the NDIS. 

Julianne Stewart, a speech - writer to former prime ministers Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott, has so far been paid more than $440,000 under a contract due to end in September. Before writing for politicians and business leaders, including former Qantas chief Alan Joyce, Ms Stewart was a scriptwriter for TV shows including Sons and Daughters and A Country Practice. Services Australia claimed in Senate estimates it had encountered “market failure” when it sought to fill the job in July 2022, prompting it to put out a contract to Austender for $620,000 over two years in search of a person with “specialist speech-writing capabilities”. 

Officials from the agency confirmed top speechwriters within the public service – who are categorised as EL2s – are paid $140,000 a year and that the agency had about 200 people in its communications unit. 

Liberal senator Maria Kovacic criticised the salary of Ms Stewart, who she said was “being paid more than double the best of the best in the department”. She said senators were paid just $230,000 a year. 

Services Australia deputy chief executive Susie Smith said speechwriting was “a specialist skill set and accomplished and available speechwriters remain difficult to source”. “We would usually recruit public servants. We tried to do that in this instance and we had market failure … to remain competitive we need to pay that market rate,” she said. 

“While (Ms Stewart) does a lot of work in terms of speech writing for Minister (Shorten) it’s not exclusive and she also helps to build the capability of public servant speech writers in the divisions.” 

The Australian understands Ms Stewart also helps Mr Shorten – who railed against high-income earners at the 2019 election – with talking points and opinion articles. While Ms Smith said Ms Stewart was being paid $268,000 a year, she was not able to rule out the whole $620,000 being used up in the tendered contract. 

Opposition government services spokesman Paul Fletcher said it “makes no sense” for a speechwriter to earn more than an MP or a senator. “Labor needs to ... prioritise struggling families over its personal public relations,” he said. 

Greens disability spokesman Jordon Steele-John questioned the timing. “It’s too much of a coincidence for me to swallow for Mr Shorten to come into a $620,000 speechwriter at the same time he is trying to ram through a really bad NDIS bill,” he said.

Author: Sarah Ison

This article appeared in the Australian on 4 June 2024