Exclusive: Government hired Newgate to devise ‘corporate narrative’ for body criticised as 'accounting sham’
government gave a public relations firm half-a-million dollars to devise a strategy to combat “negative” perceptions of its controversial $40bn rail corporation, which included posting on LinkedIn and giving itself a different name.
The documents seen by the Guardian show that in a bid to fight “consistent negative media and political attention” it hired the prominent PR firm Newgate to develop a three year “communications and reputation strategy”.Details of the contract show Newgate was paid $566,412 for a month of work in December 2021. The contract was originally valued at $181,500 for two weeks, but was later amended.
The strategy also includes plans to rename Tahe once enough time had passed for it to move past bruising public accounting committee hearings, which heard accusations from a former partner at accounting firm KPMG that he was sacked after he“By 2023, TAHE will have established its corporate narrative and started promoted its positive news stories, and enough time would have passed since the release of the PAC inquiry report,” the strategy states.
Other documents obtained by the Guardian also show how the agency war gamed the release of a damning auditor general report which found the NSW government may be forced to stump up another $4.1bn to fund the agency because of concerns she had on the “financial assumptions underpinning Tahe”.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Secret plans to sell, rezone and develop land across Sydney railwaysNSW’s scandal-ridden rail corporation has a secret plan to sell or develop land across Sydney’s rail network to generate billions of dollars | Mattonews adele_ferguson
Read more »
'It sounds like madness': Union criticises giving SES control of flood responses in NSW rather than professional emergency crewsA NSW parliamentary inquiry is told that control over major disaster responses should be handed to paid professionals, such as Fire and Rescue NSW, rather than the volunteer-driven State Emergency Service.
Read more »
NSW education department launches legal action against teachers union over May strikesNSW Teachers Federation accused of breaching orders when strikes occurred last month
Read more »
Australia news live updates: power shortfall warning as energy crisis escalates; Robert Hughes set for releaseElectricity shortfalls are predicted in NSW and Queensland as a long cold snap rolls on
Read more »
Letters: Act politically to curb inflationReserve Bank’s monetary policy, inflation, gas exports and reservation, taxing transactions, Barnaby Joyce’s pet rail project.
Read more »