Ex-WA Premier McGowan Tipped for Southern Cross Board Role Amid Integrity Questions

Mark McGowan, who stepped down as Western Australia's premier in 2023 after guiding the state through the COVID-19 pandemic, is poised to join the board of Southern Cross Media Group. The appointment would place him alongside Karen Stocks, a former senior executive at Google and Twitter, pending background checks conducted by search firm Hattonneale. Both candidates face election at Southern Cross's annual general meeting, likely in November. The base annual fee for non-executive directors sits at $135,000.

Southern Cross, which owns Channel 7, The West Australian newspaper, and the Triple M and Hit radio networks, expanded its board following its $385 million acquisition of Seven West Media earlier this year. The merger consolidated control under billionaire Kerry Stokes, who holds a 23 percent stake in the combined entity through Seven Group Holdings and affiliated vehicles. Stokes's son Ryan now chairs the board after former chair Teresa Dyson stepped down this month.

McGowan and Stokes were sometime political allies during his time in office. The two men's relationship, however, became a matter of public record during McGowan's 2022 defamation trial against coal billionaire Clive Palmer. Federal Court proceedings revealed text exchanges between the then-premier and the media mogul. In August 2020, McGowan texted Stokes to flag upcoming legislation that would shield Western Australia from Palmer's bid to pursue commercial arbitration damages—potentially worth up to $30 billion—over a historical mining tenement dispute. McGowan promised to "call to discuss." Stokes responded: "Mark, well done. I think no-one else could have achieved the legislation in the speed you did." The exchange came after The West Australian, owned by Stokes, published front-page articles depicting Palmer as a cockroach and a cane toad. The court ultimately found both men had defamed each other, awarding Palmer $5,000 and McGowan $20,000 in damages.

When questioned about the texts after the trial, McGowan characterized his contact with Stokes as routine. "I'm the treasurer, I was the minister for state development, and I'm the premier, so you could go through virtually every major company and every major investor in Western Australia, at some level, I've had contact with them," he told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2022. He described Stokes as "an engaging and interesting person and a committed West Australian who has done a great many good things for the state."

Shortly after the Palmer text exchange, in 2020, McGowan announced a significant exemption to Western Australia's gas export rules. The Waitsia project, a joint venture involving Stokes-linked Beach Energy and Japanese firm Mitsui, would be permitted to export up to 50 percent of its gas production—a departure from the standard 15 percent reservation policy applied to offshore producers and a complete ban on onshore exports. McGowan promoted Waitsia as a "shovel-ready" project that would create 200 jobs during the economic uncertainty of the pandemic. The announcement triggered Beach Energy's share price to rise. When asked whether he had met with Ryan or Kerry Stokes before the exemption was announced, McGowan initially declined to comment. In 2022, he told WA Today: "No, to the best of my recollection, no." He later defended the decision as necessary given the circumstances: "Millions of people dying, literally, in advanced Western countries, economies crashing, a world in chaos, and so we did what we had to do." The project has since faced delays, achieving first gas production only late last year. The exemption drew criticism from the Australian Energy Producers peak body, which complained of insufficient consultation, and from former Liberal premier Colin Barnett, who called the deal "unprecedented" special treatment.

Anthony Whealy KC, chair of the Centre for Public Integrity, flagged potential integrity concerns with the appointment. "Clearly with Mr McGowan there's been a number of years since he was the premier, but nevertheless, there remains a concern because he was such an influential politician and so powerful and so important within the state of Western Australia that his position with the Stokes company gives him a particular connection to the Western Australian government and a particular way of influence that other people would not have," Whealy said. He emphasized that the concern lay not in wishing McGowan ill but in the impression created: "that's where the danger to integrity lies."

McGowan's post-political career has included roles with former federal treasurer Joe Hockey's consultancy firm Bondi Partners and consulting work with mining companies Mineral Resources and BHP. He was reported to have ended his relationship with Mineral Resources earlier this year. His 2021 re-election victory had been decisive—his government secured 53 of the Lower House's 59 seats and majority control of both chambers. Neither McGowan nor Southern Cross responded to requests for comment, though an announcement of the board appointments was understood to be planned for later in the week.