Why Frank Sartor can’t even get a job in Gosford

Why Frank Sartor can’t even get a job in Gosford

EXCLUSIVE by Barclay Crawford
The Sunday Telegraph
March 10, 201312:00AM

Increase Text Size
Decrease Text Size
Print
Email
Share

0

Frank Sartor / Pic: Cameron Richardson Source: The Daily Telegraph

HIS resume includes stints as state planning minister and Sydney lord mayor, but Gosford City Council has ruled out even considering Frank Sartor for a job.

The former Labor MP was prepared to commute for five hours every day to work as the council’s general manager.

Mr Sartor sounded out those on the Liberal-dominated council about whether he had a chance of getting the gig, which would have seen him travelling 180km a day from Beverley Park in Sydney’s south.

But the stigma surrounding the former NSW Labor government is so great the council told him there was no way they would consider appointing him.

Instead it went for Paul Anderson, who had been GM of Eurobodalla Shire Council on the south coast for five years.

“It’s not like Frank’s tied to any of these corruption hearings, but he’s tarred with the same brush,” one senior Labor source said.

“It’s tough at the best of times to leave politics and find work in the private sector, but it’s especially bad when your best credential becomes a big, very public millstone around your neck.”

Members of the former Labor government are suffering from the adverse publicity surrounding the corruption allegations being publicly aired against former MPs Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald and incumbent Eric Roozendaal in the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

While Mr Obeid is already worth millions, Mr Macdonald told ICAC he was now making a living as a cleaner in Orange.

Mr Sartor did not return calls seeking comment about his employment situation, but he still enjoys a comfortable pension of more than $100,000 a year.

The dire work situation facing Mr Sartor is being played out for many ministers from the former government.

Previously, having held a position as a former minister within the NSW government was the perfect launching pad for a highly paid corporate career.

Former Labor ministers Craig Knowles and Carl Scully have managed to forge successful careers within the private sector, as has former treasurer Michael Egan.

Labor sources said former treasurer Eric Roozendaal had been hopeful of following other treasurers into lucrative private sector work but has so far failed to find any interest.