MINISTER FOR PORTS —
STAFF
1187. Hon TJORN SIBMA to the Minister for Ports:
An attachment to an answer the
minister provided me on 18 September 2019 revealed an email exchange between
staff in the minister's office and senior executives of the Pilbara
Ports Authority on 30 April 2019.
(1) What role
does or did Ms Karen Wheatland, who is included in the email exchange, perform
in the minister's office?
(2) Was or is Ms Wheatland
previously or currently an organiser for the Maritime Union of Australia?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
(1) Ms Wheatland
was a policy adviser in my office from 29 April to 31 May 2019 while my ports
policy adviser, Mark Brownell, was on leave.
(2) No. However, because I know that Hon Tjorn Sibma expects me to answer questions
that he has not yet asked, I will add: although Karen has never worked
as an organiser for the Maritime Union of Australia, Karen was engaged for one day a week in 2004 and 2005 as
a women's liaison officer by the MUA while she was an active
maritime trainer and assessor. Karen has around 14 years' experience in
the maritime industry.