Loyal Fremantle Dockers supporters will know that Premier Alan Carpenter is an avid fan but they probably don’t realise he is regularly accompanied to games by his chief of staff, Rita Saffioti, and his principal media adviser, Guy Houston.
Loyal Fremantle Dockers supporters will know that Premier Alan Carpenter is an avid fan but they probably don’t realise he is regularly accompanied to games by his chief of staff, Rita Saffioti, and his principal media adviser, Guy Houston.
The three old friends have been going to the footy for many years and they never expected their professional lives to become so closely enmeshed at the peak of political power.
As Mr Carpenter’s chief of staff, 34-year-old Ms Saffioti is seen as the premier’s right hand. She accompanies him to meetings and functions and provides advice across the spectrum of policy issues facing the government.
Ms Saffioti, whose early career was in the federal finance department and the state treasury department, is regarded as having strong economic and financial skills, a thorough grasp of wider policy issues and a huge appetite for hard work. Unlike her senior colleagues in the premier’s office, she is also seen as a potential Labor candidate in future.
Ms Saffioti has been a political adviser for the past nine years, working initially for Geoff Gallop when he was opposition leader and later as principal economic adviser after Dr Gallop won the 2001 state election.
Following the 2005 state election, she took on a broader role as strategic management adviser.
That changed abruptly earlier this year when Dr Gallop resigned as premier and his long-serving chief of staff, Sean Walsh, followed suite.
Former television reporter Kieran Murphy has been a political adviser for even longer than Ms Saffioti.
After working for Labor in opposition, he became principal media adviser during the first Gallop government.
He subsequently moved into a strategy role, working closely with Ms Saffioti, with the two seen as a counter-weight to the cautious and conservative Mr Walsh.
Since Mr Carpenter became premier, Mr Murphy’s role has been re-defined as director of communications.
This role gives him a wide overview of government communication, responsible for ensuring ministers coordinate their activities, and a brief to take a longer-term perspective.
The long-serving head of the government media office, John Arthur, remains in that role but is considered to have a lesser strategic role under the new premier.
Principal media adviser Guy Houston has been close friends with Mr Carpenter since they worked together as ABC journalists. When Dr Gallop resigned as premier, Mr Houston considered leaving, but chose to stay when it became clear Mr Carpenter would be premier.
Given the longevity and strength of their friendship, Mr Houston is considered a trusted source of advice.
He is assisted in his media work by Vanessa Joynt, who has worked for Mr Carpenter for several years.
Other key advisers in the premier’s office, which numbers just fewer than 20 people, include Matt Keogh, who has extensive experience in the areas of state development and industrial relations.
A new member of the team is Chris Rose, who transferred last month from Treasurer Eric Ripper’s office to become economic policy adviser.
John Carey plays a key tactical and organisational role as principal policy adviser (parliament).
A notable absence from the list is Peter Terlick, who until last month was Mr Carpenter’s principal private secretary. The two men first worked together as journalists and Mr Terlick remained a close adviser as Mr Carpenter rose through the ministerial ranks.
The official explanation for Mr Terlick’s recent resignation is simply that he had been considering a change and, after the initial settling in period for the new premier, decided the time was right.
