I never understood the uncritical admiration heaped upon Captain Brough, late minister in the Howard Government and (very) late convert to the cause of improving the condition of indigenous people. In all the euphoria surrounding Teh Apology I even read suggestions that Brough and Noel Pearson be given unlimited power and resources to go and ’sort things out’. I toyed with the notion of supporting this bit of inspired lunacy, just to watch the fun, but then realised the good captain had already managed to transform a $10 million program into upwards of a billion in just a few short months and I’m sick of politicians having fun with my money.

Even some people who are normally quite sensible Labor supporters get all misty-eyed about Brough and his alleged high principles. They express hope that such a good man might be lured back into federal parliament, or at least take over the handful of losers passing as the Queensland Libs. Maybe deep down a lot of people still love a soldier and they go all gooey when they hear that crisp tone of command barking military jargon about clearing the ground and securing the territory as precursors to sending out search-and-destroy patrols to net hordes of sexual predators (correct me if I missed something but as far as I know the total number of sexual offenders arrested so far in the course of Teh NT Intervention is still 0).

To me, Brough was a dangerously simplistic, humourless, slightly unbalanced individual who was incapable of seeing the wood for the trees. Ask him to discuss his political ideology and I reckon he’d be struggling to talk for more than about 30 seconds without resorting to lame clichés. He’s just a bundle of entrenched conservative prejudices masquerading as ‘good old-fashioned values’. Does he have kids? Brrrrr.

Anyway you might be interested to know that since losing his seat (with a bigger swing against him than the state average … looks like his local electors didn’t buy the stuff about him being the good apple in the barrel), Brough has apparently become a property developer. It’s amazing that an ex-army officer and MP has the capital but maybe he’s acquired wealth from other sources. Oh wait, he has ‘business partners’ (white shoes? they don’t say) so maybe he’s bringing expertise and contacts to the business; in fact, that’s what seems to have the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner a little concerned.

Brough’s business is on the Tiwi Islands, which has the only indigenous land council that agreed to switch to a 99 year lease deal for native title lands under the changes Brough introduced when he was minister:

A spokesman for the Tiwi Land Council has confirmed the former Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough has flagged a proposal for housing developments on Bathurst Island.

Brian Clancy says Mr Brough travelled to the island recently with two interstate business partners.

Mr Clancy says Mal Brough is set to profit from the project, but says Tiwi Islanders will also benefit.

He says the 99 year lease agreement signed when Mr Brough was Indigenous affair minister has opened up several development opportunities, and this latest development could break the welfare cycle in Nguiu.

This is what concerns the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner:

“As minister, Mr Brough, to be able to get (Nguiu) to sign up to a 99-year lease, provided them with a very significant amount of funding,” Mr Calma told Network Ten.

“And as Aboriginal people, they will feel there is a reciprocal obligation and engage him.

“I think the question that I am surprised has not been asked, is this a legitimate way to go forward?”

Captain Brough gave a measured and fact-filled response:

Mr Brough said Mr Calma’s comments were “disgusting and ill-founded”.

“It just shows where this man comes from, and he needs to have a long, hard look at where his priorities lie, and his priorities should be lying with the protection of children who he has responsibility for, but he has failed at his duty,” Mr Brough said.

But cap’n, can’t he protect the children and look into your land dealings simultaneously? Your military mind may have been trained to concentrate single-mindedly on a solitary objective but multi-tasking is a skill quite a lot of us social science types have acquired. Anyone would think you were trying to change the subject, but we know you would never ever try to use child sexual abuse as a distraction from other, more awkward questions.

From time to time people mutter about the propriety of ex ministers taking jobs after they leave parliament that give rise to the perception they might have used their ministerial office to give themselves a bit of a head start. Indeed there’s an interesting paper on the subject here (.doc file). Is Brough’s project any different to the cases of Reith joining a defence contractor, Carr joining a merchant bank or Wooldridge joining the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners?

Perhaps they should invite the captain to be a guest speaker at next year’s Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference.

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