KPMG partner and former Labor MP David Bradbury appointed to be deputy chair of banking, super regulator

A recently departed partner with embattled auditing firm KPMG has been appointed to the board of Australia’s banking regulator for a five-year term.

David Bradbury, a former Federal Labor MP and assistant treasurer, will be a deputy chair of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, which is responsible for regulating banks, superannuation funds and insurers.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers made the announcement just three months after Mr Bradbury was appointed to the Board of Taxation and only weeks after he quit as a KPMG partner.

This latest appointment is occurring amid a scandal that has seen KPMG lose its chairman Martin Sheppard and chief executive Andrew Yates in a matter of weeks, after a whistleblower told Labor senator Deborah O’Neil in March that the auditing firm had used confidential board papers from construction firm Lendlease to win contracts with the Westpac bank and asset and property management group Dexus.

Mr Bradbury, who takes up his new role as an APRA deputy chair on September 1, was one of more than 600 KPMG partners in Australia and there is no suggestion he had prior knowledge of this misconduct.

He is also a former Labor member for the western Sydney electorate of Lindsay, covering Penrith, and was assistant treasurer under former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard before losing his seat at the 2013 election.

“Mr Bradbury brings more than 25 years’ experience across economic policy, regulation and public administration,” Dr Chalmers said.

“He is currently Chair of the Board of Taxation, has held senior leadership positions at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development for more than a decade, and was a partner in the consulting division at KPMG Australia.

“He is also an Honorary Professor at The Australian National University. Mr Bradbury served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer between 2010 and 2013.”

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson sarcastically congratulated Mr Bradbury on his appointment, noting he was previously a parliamentary secretary to former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan, who now chairs the CBUS Super Fund.

“As a former Parl Sec in a Labor government, I have no doubt he will rigorously investigate the Labor-Union super cartel to protect Australians’ retirement savings from finding its way into the hands of organised crime and the union-Labor campaign machine,” he tweeted on Friday.

“I’m sure he will stand up for workers and every day Australians against any union-cartel of corrupt interests. I’m sure he will put Australians first, and the Labor cartel last.”

Mr Bradbury’s appointment was also announced just two days after Treasury released a consultation paper on the big four auditing firms that explored the idea of changing the rules allowing up to 1000 partners.

“The justification for the increased maximum number of ‘accounting’ partners appears to be limited,” it said.

Therese McCarthy Hockey, an existing APRA member, is starting as an APRA deputy chair on July 9.

Ms McCarthy Hockey and Mr Bradbury were selected by a panel chaired by Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson, with input from APRA chair John Lonsdale and Attorney-General’s Department secretary Katherine Jones.