PMs new point-man for tech challenges

James Riley
Thursday, 16 July 2009 06:58

IT Industry - Market

Prime Ministerial advisor and former NineMSN chief executive Martin Hoffman has suddenly emerged as the go-to guy for Rudd Government technology planning, appointed to the board of Stephen Conroy’s National Broadband Network company and to Lindsay Tanner’s Government 2.0 taskforce in the space of a fortnight.

He is also the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s representative on the elite NBN project control group within Government.

Mr Hoffman is new to the public service, joining Prime Minister and Cabinet in March as Executive Co-ordinator, Strategic Policy & Implementation. It is not clear whether this role was always focused on ICT industry development issues, or whether he joined Government specifically to drive NBN policy implementation - or both.

Regardless, Mr Hoffman’s talents were tapped by Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner and Special Minister of State (and Cabinet Secretary) Joe Ludwig when they put together the freshly-announced Government 2.0 Taskforce.

Mr Hoffman is not the only public servant on the Taskforce. Others include Anne Steward from the Australian Government Information Management Office; Mia Garlick from the Department of Broadband and Communications; Peter Harper from the Bureau of Statistics; Glenn Archer from the Education Department; and Adrian Cunningham from National Archives.

But his new-ness to the Government, his previous roles with a multinational and as an ICT entrepreneur, as well as his formal attachment to NBN Company and proximity to Cabinet make Martin Hoffman an interesting public servant indeed.

Stephen Conroy’s office has remained coy about the Hoffman interim appointment to the Board, not commenting on the decision (which came weeks after four interim Board appointments were announced – one each from the Departments of Broadband and Communications; Finance; and Treasury; with the last from the Solicitor General’s office to act as company secretary.)

Mr Hoffman was CEO of NineMSN from January 2003 to July 2006, driving the company from a loss-making position to over $30 million before tax profit in the 2006 financial year. He has also held senior management roles at Fairfax Media.

Most recently he was chief executive and a director of the mobile social networking services company MOKO.mobi.