Keating’s right-hand man to lead SA mega-dept
A former US Ambassador and principal adviser to Prime Minister Paul Keating has been appointed to lead the newly formed Department of State Development.
Dr Don Russell, most recently a senior Commonwealth public servant, will start in August as Chief Executive of the new department, which brings together resources and energy, manufacturing, investment and trade, skills, employment and science, and the arts.
Russell is used to mega-portfolios. His most recent appointment was as Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.
He worked for Keating when he was Treasurer and Prime Minister, and was Australia’s Ambassador in Washington from 1993 to 1995.
Premier Jay Weatherill said “nobody is better positioned to serve in this role than Dr Russell, who has many decades of experience in public policy and the public sector”.
“He has a strong understanding of how Government can leverage investment and develop the skills required by industry – the only true basis for sustainable high-paying jobs.”
The new department will begin operating tomorrow under acting chief executive Ray Garrand, who will serve in the position until Russell begins work on 4 August.
Russell, who has a PhD from the London School of Economics and an undergraduate degree from Flinders University, worked for the Treasury before joining Keating’s office in 1985.
He was principal adviser to Keating until 1993, and then rejoined his office in 1996 in the final year of Keating’s Prime Ministership.
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Russell then moved into the private sector, working for research and money management firm Sanford C. Bernstein and investment company BNY Mellon Asset Management Australia.
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