Gunner takes shot at KPMG position

The brisk morning breeze that rushes along St Georges Terrace, even during Perth’s warmest months, is a far cry from the tropical heat that swamps Darwin most of the year.

It is an experience KPMG’s newest Western Australian import, former Northern Territory chief minister Michael Gunner, will need to get used to.

A Territorian born and raised, Mr Gunner has suddenly found himself a resident of Perth, relocating with his young family to the west coast earlier this year in the latest chapter of a career with plenty of twists and turns.

Mr Gunner has taken on a role as partner consulting at KPMG in WA, having ended his political career three years ago.

It is his second job in the private sector since leaving office in May 2022, when he resigned as NT chief minister.

At the time, Mr Gunner declared his head and heart were “at home”, following the birth of his second child.

His tenure concluded at the tail end of a gruelling period for the nation’s Covid-era leaders; a pandemic that put state and territory politicians front-and-centre in the daily lives of ordinary Australians.

Mr Gunner occupied one of nine seats at the nation’s first virtual national cabinet meeting in March 2020.

Under his government’s tenure, the NT avoided the worst of the pandemic’s impacts. As was the case in WA, public health decisions around vaccines were at-times divisive, and public debate spirited.

Mr Gunner’s move into the private sector began in November 2022 when he was appointed a director at Fortescue, leading what was a newly established arm of the company focused on northern Australia. That position later was expanded to an Australian director role.

That stint lasted 18 months, ending with an endorsement of founder Andrew Forrest’s green vision. However, Mr Gunner’s need to be closer to Darwin was the catalyst for his resignation.

“Post-politics, you are looking for a new challenge; Fortescue gave that,” Mr Gunner told Business News in an exclusive interview shortly after he started with KPMG.

“I worked mainly in the green energy area, and so it really fit[ted] that purpose and passion … how can you serve [people].

“Andrew [Forrest] obviously has a very strong vision, and I really enjoyed working with Andrew and Fortescue towards that.

“But now, here at KPMG, I get a much broader diversity of issue to work on: all of what government’s doing, plus public sector organisations working to government, or even the private sector.

“Having that entire range of things to work on is invigorating.” 

The diversity of this new role at KPMG attracted the Gunner family to relocate to Perth at the start of this year. 

The western end of St Georges Terrace – home to the offices of both KPMG and Fortescue – is a long way from Darwin. 

But Mr Gunner sees plenty of synergies between WA and the jurisdiction he once called home. 

“The NT will always be a part of me, I will always be a [Northern] Territory boy at heart,” he said. 

“I feel like we’re cousins, though, to WA; there’s a very special relationship between WA and the NT. 

“I always used to joke with Mark [McGowan], that if WA secedes, take us with you.” 

Given his stature, Mr Gunner’s arrival in WA has been relatively low key. 

His proposed role will be anything but. 

At KPMG, Mr Gunner will support what the firm’s WA chair Trevor Hart labelled an “ambitious government growth agenda”, working in senior leadership in a partner capacity with a focus on the government advisory business.

Mr Gunner said he hoped his experience in government and the professional relationships built over time in office would bode well for his new role in Perth.

“My main advantage at KPMG is, as a former first minister, I have a deep and intimate understanding of government, how it works, how decisions are made, how policies are delivered,” he said.

“That allows KPMG to provide a unique offering to the market to help governments and private sector organisations achieve the best outcomes for Australians at the best value to taxpayers.”

While Mr Gunner’s focus will be in Perth and WA, he will work nationally and internationally in his new role.

“I’m absolutely certain that our national teams will draw on the experience of Michael Gunner in the way we deliver for our clients,” Mr Hart told Business News.

“It’s fantastic that he and his family can be based in Perth with his kids, but I have no doubt there will be a great need for Michael’s skills across the business.”

Next step

Mr Gunner’s arrival in Perth may have been somewhat low key, but his departure from the NT was headline news in late 2024.

He’s not alone in moving on.

Eight of the nine leaders summoned for the first national cabinet meeting in March 2020 by then prime minister Scott Morrison, as the pandemic escalated, are no longer in politics.

Only one – Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Andrew Barr – remains in office.

All others except Mr Morrison, who lost the 2022 federal election to Anthony Albanese, left office on their own terms.

Locally, Mr McGowan has been the most prominent.

His advisory roles with companies including BHP, Mineral Resources and APM Human Services have complemented a position as a senior adviser at Bondi Partners, the US-Australian advisory firm set up by former Liberal treasurer Joe Hockey.

The Covid leaders had an increased profile through the period as a result of national coverage of the pandemic.

Even in WA, some east coast premiers were household names.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian, who stood aside as a result of a probe into her conduct by the state’s corruption watchdog, has joined Optus since leaving office.

South Australia’s Steven Marshall has left the country following his resignation last year, and Dan Andrews has taken up a role as chair at a youth mental health service (to the chagrin of his political opponents, who accuse his government’s lockdown policy of having had a detrimental impact on mental health in the state).

Former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is a board member at Australia Post.

At a WA Mining Club lunch late last year, Mr McGowan stressed the importance of relationship building for businesses dealing with government, and said his passion for advisory work was driven by his desire to support companies employing Western Australians.

In a similar vein, Mr Gunner said his move to KPMG was about moving on while offering support to those on the front line.

“For me now, I support governments to get done what they want done,” he said.

“I’m not running for office any more; the best thing about being out of politics is being out.

“They set the agenda and we’re here to help them deliver. It’s our job to work with them on what their priorities are.”

Mr Gunner’s desire to serve the public has not diminished.

The former chief minister told Business News his experience as a political leader gave a different perspective when it came to the jobs that followed.

“One of the advantages you have as a former first minister is that you need to be across all the policy areas of government and how they work together,” Mr Gunner said.

“Any time you look at one, you are very much aware of the implications on the other.

“If you consider housing, which is such a strong part of the national conversation as well as here in WA. If you start talking housing you’ve got to talk education, transport, health, energy as part of the same conversation.

“Any piece of policy you work on in those areas, you need to be mindful of the connections, implications and other things.”

It’s a skillset that should bear fruit at KPMG, according to Mr Hart.

“The decision to bring Michael into the firm is pretty obviously a good one,” Mr Hart said.

“Some of that Territorian-type growth and opportunity thinking is pretty similar to WA, in terms of where we’re at as well.

“The alignment, the synergy of bringing Michael into the business and the timing of the opportunity worked really well together. It becomes pretty compelling.”

KPMG is the eighth-largest consultancy firm in WA by full-time in-house consultants on staff, according to Data & Insights.