The Financial Review contacted Mr Wyatt and Mr Ayres on Tuesday. Ms Pounder on Monday hosed down speculation she could move to the BCA, while other candidates including Ms Thomson declined to comment. The new chief executive will work alongside BCA president Tim Reed, and a high-powered board which includes CBA chief executive Matt Comyn, KPMG Australia national chairman Alison Kitchen, and Wesfarmers’ Rob Scott.īHP boss Mike Henry and Gilbert + Tobin managing partner Danny Gilbert are also directors. His partner is former Liberal minister and NSW senator Marise Payne. He was cleared of breaching ministerial rules and would have returned to the ministry if the Coalition had been re-elected.īefore stepping down as a minister, Mr Ayres held a range of ministerial portfolios including jobs, investment, tourism, trade and industry. He resigned from the NSW Coalition frontbench over revelations about former deputy premier John Barilaro’s appointment to a trade commissioner position in New York. One said he was a late inclusion in the process, coming after he lost his seat of Penrith at the March NSW state election. Some figures close to the BCA recruitment process expressed surprise Mr Ayres being a shortlisted candidate. He is a director of Woodside, Rio Tinto and the West Coast Eagles AFL club. A former officer in the Australian Army, he has worked as a barrister and solicitor before standing for Labor.
Mr Wyatt retired as West Australian treasurer in 2021, after becoming the first Indigenous person to serve in the role in an Australian parliament. The next chief executive will have to advocate for the interests of big business as the Albanese government considers a second tranche of industrial relations reforms and changes to multinational taxation laws.Ī spokesman for the BCA said this week no decision had been made about who would be appointed chief executive. Ms Westacott, who has been chief executive of the BCA since 2011, announced plans to retire in February, and is due to leave the role in the next 12 to 18 months. Philip Gostelow, Louise KennerleyĬandidates including Tech Council boss Kate Pounder and Group of Eight universities chief executive Vicki Thomson have also been considered in the extensive process. Former West Australian treasurer and Rio Tinto director Ben Wyatt and former NSW trade minister Stuart Ayres are the two candidates vying to replace Jennifer Westacott at the Business Council of Australia.īut the board is split on which former politician to appoint, and sources with knowledge of the recruitment process told The Australian Financial Review that political and diversity considerations were in play.īen Wyatt and Stuart Ayres are both under consideration for the BCA role.
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