Jamie Briggs, who resigned from the Turnbull ministry after a complaint about his behaviour in a Hong Kong bar, has been appointed to the board of a government enterprise, the Moorebank Intermodal Company Limited.
In an announcement posted on a departmental website on Friday afternoon, a week before Christmas, the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, cited Briggs’ experience as a minister for infrastructure and regional development.
“Mr Briggs’ infrastructure experience is considered highly relevant to the Moorebank Intermodal project and the work of the Moorebank Intermodal Company board,” the finance minister said.
MIC was established to develop a freight terminal in Sydney’s southwest.
Briggs stepped down from the first Turnbull ministry after a public servant complained about his behaviour on a night out in Hong Kong. While the exact nature of her complaint was not revealed, Briggs said that he and his chief of staff had gone to a crowded bar with the public servant where they all “interacted”.
When he stood down, Briggs said he believed the night out was an informal event but that his behaviour did not meet the “high standards” required of a minister.
“At no point was it my intention to act inappropriately,” he said. “This was an error of professional judgment.”
Briggs lost his seat of Mayo at the 2016 election to Nick Xenophon Team’s Rebekha Sharkie, one of three NXT representatives to join the federal parliament this year.
His pre-Christmas appointment follows the appointments by the attorney general, George Brandis, of two former Liberal MPs, Andrew Nikolic and Russell Matheson, in full-time seven-year roles to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Brandis also appointed two former Labor MPs – the former speaker Anna Burke in a full-time seven-year role and Linda Kirk in a part-time role.
