THE Primary Industries Minister, Ian Macdonald, is in charge of 58 government committees which employ more than 300 people and cost the taxpayer more than $1 million in sitting fees alone.
The Sydney Morning Herald has discovered the minister dubbed "Sir Lunchalot" by the Opposition could also be referred to as the "minister for committees". He has extended his arms into quangos (semi-public bodies funded by government) far further than the controversial NSW Wine Industry and Research Development Advisory Council, which racked up a bill close to $150,000 for food, drinks and accommodation.
Not only is he in charge of the wine council, chaired by his good friend and former Labor staffer Greg Jones, he is also in charge of the Abalone Management Advisory Committee, the Banana Industry Committee and the Cattle Tick Ministerial Advisory Committee.
There is the Estuary Prawn Trawl Management Advisory Committee, the Poultry and Egg Administrative Committee and the Sheep Advisory Group.
And the Exhibited Animals Advisory Committee, Lobster Management Advisory Committee, and Noxious Weeds Advisory Committee.
One of the most contentious groups is the Game Council, which the Greens have claimed was set up as a way of appeasing the Shooters' Party and helping to secure their crucial votes for upper house legislation. Shooters' Party candidates have chaired the council.
Most of the committees pay a presiding fee of $342 a day and a member's fee of $207 a day, according to documents obtained by the Herald.
Committee members with Labor connections include the chairman of the NSW Seafood Industry Conference, Hans Heilpern, who was a former chief of staff to Mr Macdonald, and the chairman of the Ocean Hauling Management Advisory Committee Bill Nagle, a former staffer to the late federal Labor minister John Button.
The former Tasmanian Labor MP Julian Amos is chairman of the Ocean Trap and Line Management Advisory committee and Ingrid Strewe, the former Labor mayor of Waverley, is on the Organic Ministerial Advisory Council.
The state secretary of the Australian Workers Union, Russell Collison, is on the Seafood Industry Advisory Council. On the department's Aboriginal Reference Group is the stepson of the federal Labor MP Laurie Ferguson, David Voltz.
A spokeswoman for Mr Macdonald said he had not made appointments "based on political merit" and he also appointed former Coalition MPs, including Ian Armstrong, Garry West and John Jobling.
The spokeswoman defended the number of committees, saying: "It is more than appropriate that he has a wide range of committees which help provide him with advice and feedback on key issues and challenges facing the industries he works most closely with.
"The minister has actively sought to streamline the number of committees under his authority, decreasing the number since he became a minister."
Following revelations about the wine council expenses this week, the Premier, Nathan Rees, said he would review all government committees with a view to shutting some down.
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