Look Sharp: Ansett Chief Gets An Old Friend To Play Canberra Driver And Guide

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday April 19, 2001

Mark Robinson

When Gary Toomey stepped through the doors of Canberra Airport yesterday morning, a dark green BMW waited at the kerb.

The choice of the expensive vehicle with its silver wheels was no surprise given it was picking up the man who heads both Ansett and Air New Zealand. But its driver was: former transport minister and National Party MP Mr John Sharp.

His task for the day, as it has been on occasions over the past four months, was to drive Mr Toomey around not so much on the road but through the political waters of Canberra.

Mr Toomey yesterday began the job of persuading the Government and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to lift the threat of suspension from his airline.

Mr Sharp has become a familiar sight in Parliament House working on behalf of various companies, including Ansett and transport giant Linfox, for which he is a special adviser.

He is friends with a number of former colleagues including the Finance Minister, Mr Fahey, in whose electorate he lives. But his primary contact is the current Transport Minister, Mr Anderson.

``John is good mates with him, there is no secret about that, they go back a long way," a Government adviser said yesterday.

It was to Mr Anderson that Mr Sharp yesterday took his passenger for a one-hour meeting.

Asked about his role yesterday, Mr Sharp said he working for free, helping out a friend with whom he had dealt as the Howard Government's first transport minister for 18 months before a travel rorts scandal claimed him.

Praising Mr Toomey as an outstanding executive with ``enormous intellectual ability", he said: ``Gary asked me to help him out and so far I have been doing so on a pro-bono basis.

``It is a normally advisory role doing a whole range of things."

Asked when he expected to get paid, Mr Sharp said: ``I look forward to the occasion when I do. We haven't formalised the arrangement yet, but hopefully we will some time in the future."