Graham Kierath has resigned as BGC chief Len Buckeridge’s top business and government troubleshooter.
Mr Kierath completed a three-year stint with BGC last week and says he is now looking for new challenges.
But not right away.
The former senior Court government labour relations minister said he was planning a month’s holiday before considering his future.
But he discounted suggestions he would enter the state’s small but vibrant lobbying sector, which includes luminaries such as former Labor premier Brian Burke and one-time Liberal leader Barry MacKinnon.
Soon after losing his Riverton seat at the February 2001 election, Mr Kierath was contacted by Mr Buckeridge to join BGC in a senior managerial position.
“Len approached me three times and on the third one I said yes,” Mr Kierath said.
“What I did initially was to spend some time with one of BGC’s home construction subsidiaries but I told Len that I’d prefer doing something else.
“When we discussed this I suggested that Len write down his five biggest problems and I said I’d be prepared to work on them.
“And, in typical Len fashion, he fitted seven of his problems into five and I’ve been working on those since early 2002.
“They are now complete and I’m looking to doing something else.”
Mr Kierath said his decision to leave was in part related to Mr Buckeridge’s revelation late last month that he intended selling off his BGC construction empire.
“Now that Len will no longer be pursuing new major projects I’m looking around for new challenges,” Mr Kierath said.
Although Mr Kierath is still remembered for his 1990s trail-blazing reforms of the state’s outdated industrial relations system while labour relations minister, he also gained experience in planning areas.
As well as being labour relations minister between 1993 and 1998 he held the planning and heritage portfolios from 1997 until 2001.
Earlier he had been housing and lands minister.
Although refusing to predict where his career may take him, Mr Kierath said dealing with planning issues was one area he felt he could embark upon in a consulting capacity.
Before entering parliament in 1989 for the then new seat of Riverton, aged 39 years, he owned and managed his family cleaning business.
Last year he was endorsed for the one-time blue ribbon Liberal seat of Alfred Cove, which the Liberals had lost to Liberals for Forests candidate Dr Janet Woollard during the February 2001 landslide.
At the 2005 poll Mr Kierath narrowly missed defeating Dr Woollard, even though he had a lead of 3,400 primary votes before distribution of preferences.
He is currently a Liberal Party vice-president.
