Former WA Premier Mark McGowan appointed to Southern Cross board

Former West Australian premier Mark McGowan will be appointed to the board of Southern Cross Media Group, three years since retiring from politics due to exhaustion.

In a statement after markets closed on Wednesday, the Ryan Stokes-chaired media company announced the popular COVID-era premier, along with former Google and Twitter executive Karen Stocks, would be appointed to the Southern Cross board.

Southern Cross Media Group, partly owned by Stokes’ father, billionaire Kerry Stokes, encompasses Channel 7, The West Australian newspaper, and the Triple M and Hit commercial radio networks.

The friendly relationship between McGowan and Kerry Stokes has been well publicised.

Text messages tabled in a defamation trial brought against the premier by mining billionaire Clive Palmer revealed McGowan thanking Kerry for his paper’s favourable front-page coverage of the spat.

McGowan also personally thanked Kerry for his support in 2020 during a period when his government was rushing through legislation to head off a potentially multibillion-dollar damages claim from Palmer against the state over a stalled mining project.

The West Australian depicted Palmer as a cane toad and cockroach over that period, which McGowan described as “marvellous” in a chummy exchange.

McGowan also came under scrutiny in 2020 over a decision to single out and exempt a project by Beach Energy, of which the Stokes’ Seven Group Holdings is the largest shareholder, from WA’s domestic gas reservation policy.

At the time, the Waitsia project was singled out for the extraordinary exemption because it was “shovel ready” and the state was looking for such projects during COVID to keep the economy ticking.

Waitsia has since been plagued with issues, and only produced its first gas last year.

In the statement from Southern Cross Australia, Ryan Stokes said both new appointees brought capability that would strengthen the board for the next phase of the company.

“Mark has operated at the centre of government and regulation, and he understands Western Australia, where we hold some of our strongest positions,” he said.

“Karen has spent her career on how media audiences are measured and valued, which goes to the heart of the opportunity in front of us.”

McGowan said Southern Cross Media reached deep into Australian life, across the major cities and regional Australia.

“In Western Australia its mastheads and stations are part of how the state talks to itself. I am looking forward to contributing to this board,” he said.

The next Southern Cross Media Group election period for the board will be at an upcoming annual general meeting, likely in November.

Since his retirement as premier in 2023, McGowan has taken on a number of roles including Oasis Fertility Clinic in an advisor capacity, APM Human Services, as a consultant for Joe Hockey’s firm Bondi Partners, and at BHP, and was also on the advisory board for the Australia China Foundation.

He also spent time as an advisor at Mineral Resources.

The Stokes family had reduced their stockholding in media at the start of the year as Seven West Media merged with radio company Southern Cross Austereo.

Kerry stepped down from the role of chair in February, but after a tumultuous start the merged company again had a Stokes at the helm as Ryan took the reins of the company at the start of September – the fourth chair in nine months.

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