Antinuclear

In December 2013, McDowell resigned from BAE and returned to Australia. He was immediately appointed to the board of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, as deputy chair. Then Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said, “Mr McDowell’s business background coupled with his knowledge of international marketing and joint ventures will support the development of emerging business opportunities…” ANSTO’s chair, Dr Paul Greenfield, said, “This is a dynamic and exciting time for ANSTO and this is reflected in the overall contribution nuclear science and technology is now making across a range of key areas.”

Earlier that year (in February 2013), ANSTO had signed a formal research cooperation agreement with the Defence Science and Technology (DST) Organisation. This was a period when DST, under Chief Defence Scientist Alex Zelinsky, signed a number of collaborative agreements with military industrial companies, including BAE in October 2013 and, as we have covered previously, Lockheed Martin in March 2014, among others.

At the completion of Dr Greenfield’s term, in August 2014, McDowell was appointed chair of the ANSTO board, a position he held for the next four years.

McDowell’s timely departure from the military industry created an influx of new opportunities for him from a government with a policy of recognising industry as a “fundamental input to capability”. Following his rapid appointment to the ANSTO board, over the next four years, McDowell was awarded lucrative contracts across six major areas by Defence (see table), which together totalled almost $1.5 million in consultancy fees.

To supplement the government’s largesse, in the same four-year period, McDowell accepted appointments as Chancellor of the University of South Australia and to the Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. He also joined the boards of eight public companies, most of which operate in the military industrial sector. In addition to those in the chart, McDowell was made chair of another two private companies, duMonde Group Pty Ltd and Total Construction Pty Ltd (dates of those appointments are not publicly available). In 2017, it appears McDowell was engaged simultaneously in at least 12 different roles.

From 2018, CEO Department of Premier and Cabinet, SA

In mid-2018, South Australian Premier Steve Marshall announced that McDowell had accepted his offer to become the state’s most senior public servant: the new chief executive of the Department of Premier and Cabinet. McDowell responded to criticisms of his $550,000 annual salary by noting he was now earning less, “by a factor”, than he did previously. Evidently so.

Nevertheless, as the most senior public servant in “The Defence State”, hired, among other things, to oversee a booming $90 billion industry in warship-building, and with a network of public and private connections at the highest levels, it is unlikely that McDowell’s sphere of influence will have diminished alongside his income.

Questions were put to the Department of Defence, Mr McDowell, the Department of Industry (ANSTO) and the office of Steve Marshall, Premier of South Australia regarding possible conflicts of interest. A spokesman for Mr McDowell said “Mr McDowell respectfully declines to comment” in response to questions relating to weapons industry remuneration.

The Department of Defence said, “Unfortunately, we are unable to assist with your inquiry”. The Premier’s Office said it would respond and when it responds, its answers will be appended to this story.