Who is John Macgowan?

Just this morning, former Liberal Party media adviser John Macgowan tweeted about Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Network 10 (a trial which has been to reputations what The Dirty Dozen was to after-work parties).

“Thinking my next hustle is running brand rehabilitation for all the guys burned by the Lehrmann yarn by taking them to Gaza to feed starving kids,” wrote Macgowan. “A safer alternative to being anywhere near that story”.

Safe to say, in most other contexts, John Macgowan would be one of the more colourful characters on display. In the context of the ongoing earthquake that is this case, he has very much been crowded out.

ICAC

Macgowan made his earliest appearance in the media in 2014 via the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) testimony of then member for Swansea Garry Edwards (in what the AFR noted “appeared to be a carefully staged twist” from ICAC’s counsel assisting Geoffrey “Hollywood” Watson). Macgowan, at the time working for MP Mike Gallacher, was not on the witness list when called, and testified that Edwards had asked him whether he should tell the corruption watchdog about an apparent cash donation from Newcastle property developer Jeff McCloy in 2011.

“I wasn’t so much concerned about my personal political position as I was ­concerned about whether I would go to prison for potentially lying to ICAC,” Macgowan said.

Dirt unit

The “dirt unit” — political staffers dedicated to finding embarrassing/compromising/career-ending material on political opponents — is one of many common political practices that require a bit of euphemism from time to time. For example, in February 2019, The Daily Telegraph noted Macgowan was moving on from his role with then NSW planning minister Anthony Roberts to head the party’s “accountability unit”, which is a delightful choice of words. (The Libs told the Tele that Macgowan’s job title was in fact “media adviser”, and his job was “test[ing] the veracity of any opposition claims”.)

Macgowan was joining the industry during a golden era — during the previous year’s Victorian state election, the candidate list suffered a cane toad-like culling based on material that was often (explicitly or very obviously) the work of dirt units. And there was another golden year ahead in 2019, with the NSW state elections and federal elections to come.

The biggest early scalp: then NSW Labor leader Michael Daley. Macgowan would later tell the Nine papers of how the Liberal dirt unit sat on footage of Daley telling an event that young Australians were missing out on jobs to people “from Asia with PhDs”.

It was nothing personal, Macgowan insisted: “I actually really like Michael Daley.”

Macgowan’s work rarely paid off with such a slam dunk, he said, estimating he’d read the equivalent of Ulysses in Facebook posts: “It’s a job that rewards cold patience.”

He’d also play a role in the federal election. “Remember, right at the beginning of the campaign, that donation scandal was sparking off?” Macgowan was quoted as saying in Samantha Maiden’s dissection of the 2019 campaign, Party Animals. “That night, we had video on TV of Huang Xiangmo’s wedding with Shorten sitting there.” He went on to say they got the footage of Shorten from one of the many Liberals who had also attended: “There was a whole table of Liberals there,” he laughed.

Lehrmann and freelancing

Macgowan was among the people Lehrmann texted on the day Brittany Higgins’ allegations that she had been raped in Parliament became public. Lehrmann, who was not named in the interview and denies all allegations against him, texted Macgowan that he needed “bags” and wanted to “get lit”.

Macgowan, speaking to Crikey in 2023, did not speak to the content of the texts, but said he had been providing informal media advice to Lehrmann “as a friend”.

“I was heavily involved during the trial,” he said. “But I never received payment or anything. And not anymore — Bruce’s legal team is handling that side of things now.”

And then there are the Taylor Auerbach revelations. Again, it may be the company, but Macgowan certainly doesn’t come off the worst. According to Auerbach’s affidavit, he was on the trip to Tasmania to negotiate the terms of Lehrmann’s interview with Network Seven’s Spotlight, was on the green for the $400 round of golf, and attended dinners including the one with the infamous $361 steak — but, Auerbach made clear Macgowan “did not benefit from the Thai massages” that he claims were initially put on the Seven credit card: “My recollection is that he left soon after the masseuses arrived.”

Macgowan’s response: “It’s the first example of a news story that actually qualifies as cosmic horror, an intangible concept that drives the people involved mad.”