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October 29, 2025
A veteran Queensland Labor operative was listed as " option "B" among those considered for the government's top climate role, before ultimately being handpicked by Anthony Albanese over another candidate it similarly deemed suitable and preferred.
Mike Kaiser who served as secretary of Queensland's Department of Premier and Cabinet under former Queensland premier Steven Miles was appointed as secretary of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water in July on a five-year contract.
Documents released under Freedom of Information laws and obtained by The Australian show Mr Kaiser was personally selected by the Prime Minister for the $930,000-a-year position ahead of another contender who had received the same rating by an independent selection panel.
According to the FOI documents, the panel, chaired by the Australian Public Service Commissioner Gordon de Brouwer, identified five potential candidates and interviewed four, including three senior commonwealth bureaucrats, including an agency head, and another former state public servant as well as Mr Kaiser.
After a "closed competitive selection process", the panel deemed two candidates as "suitable, preferred", and advised Mr Albanese to appoint "one of the following people."
They were presented as Option A whose identity remains redacted and Option B.
Mr Kaiser was ultimately chosen, with Mr Albanese signing off on the appointment brief submitted by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on July 4.
Government sources said the listings were not a ranking.
"It is a standard approach for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to recommend multiple suitable candidates for departmental secretaries to the Prime Minister," an Albanese government spokesman said.
"Mr Kaiser was selected for the role due to his extensive experience in both the public and private sectors ... Mr Kaiser's experience includes delivering on large-scale projects, administering complex regulatory regimes and leading the Queensland government's policies on planning and infrastructure."
The appointment brief stated that the panel considered Mr Kaiser to possess "excellent people leadership and stakeholder acumen" who would bring a "broader perspective to the role from his experience working in other jurisdictions and sectors".
"The panel recommended ... Mr Kaiser would be exemplary in the role of secretary of DCCEEW and that an appointment be made from these two candidates," the appointment brief read.
The Australian is not suggesting Mr Kaiser did not deserve the appointment.
Mr Kaiser served as Queensland ALP state secretary between 1993 and 2000, then the state Labor MP for Woodridge. He was forced to quit parliament in 2001 after he admitted to an inquiry into electoral fraud that he had falsely signed an electoral enrolment form in 1986.
The ALP veteran was also chief of staff to NSW Labor premier Morris Iemma and later became Queensland Labor premier Anna Bligh's chief of staff in 2008.
Opposition public service spokesman James Paterson said the circumstances surrounding Mr Kaiser's appointment reflected Labor's "jobs for mates" culture, and he accused the government of disguising the hire behind the pretence of a meritbased process.
"We now know the truth the Prime Minister hand-picked his preferred candidate ... from a field of other qualified candidates without Mr Kaiser's partisan baggage," Senator Paterson said.
The scrutiny over Mr Kaiser's appointment comes as the Centre for Public Integrity, a think tank that advocates against corruption, on Monday issued a "report card" of the Albanese government's record on transparency since the May election.
It found Labor had made "little progress" on ending a culture of "jobs for mates" in public sector hiring and called for a transparent, merit-based appointments