EXCLUSIVE: Screenshots of Labor candidate for Fannie Bay Brent Potter’s now deactivated LinkedIn page taken last month show he previously worked for the CEO of an aerospace company that he helped secure $10 million in public funds for from the government, the NT Independent can reveal.

It is unclear if Mr Potter, who was working as a senior ministerial adviser on the fifth floor, declared the potential conflict of interest while advising Cabinet Ministers about the Amphibian Aerospace Industries project that would purportedly see amphibious aircrafts built in Darwin.

Mr Potter’s LinkedIn page was deleted hours before he was officially announced as the Fannie Bay candidate on July 29, which a political scientist suggested yesterday was a typical tactic for a political party that did not want its candidate’s business connections being made public before a by-election.

The NT Independent understands from highly-placed government sources that Mr Potter was instrumental in securing the $10 million of public funds for Amphibian Aerospace Industries (AAI) in his role as senior adviser to Industry Minister Nicole Manison late last year. He was later moved to Chief Minister Natasha Fyles’ office as senior adviser in May, before she picked him as the candidate for Fannie Bay last month, later confirmed by the party.

It can also be revealed that Mr Potter charged taxpayers for international travel to secure contracts for AAI while working as a fifth floor adviser.

Mr Potter refused to say yesterday if he had declared a conflict of interest concerning his relationship with AAI’s CEO Dan Webster, who was executive director at a company called Elbit Systems Australia at the same time Mr Potter worked there as the business development manager between 2018 and 2020.

Elbit Systems Australia is an aerospace and defence company and has appeared on AAI promotional materials as a business partner.

The NT Independent also understands the $10 million taxpayer-funded investment was arranged for AAI in less than 90 days, which a source with knowledge of the situation said was unusually quick and raised questions about the extent of the government’s due diligence on the project.

Former chief minister Michael Gunner and Ms Manison announced the $10 million investment to Amphibian Aircraft Holdings Pty Ltd – the parent company of AAI – last December to manufacture the Albatross amphibious aircraft in Darwin.

AAI has yet to build a single aircraft, but the government claimed in its funding announcement that AAI was forecasting annual revenue of $100 million “by the end of the decade” and would create 300 direct jobs at the height of production of the amphibious aircraft.

The $10 million of taxpayer money to AAI is from the NT Government’s Jobs Fund – the program created with money stripped from the former $200 million Infrastructure Development Fund – after it was shut down following the NT Beverages water bottling scandal that saw the government invest $10 million into that company just months before it went into liquidation in 2018.

Questions have been raised about the viability of AAI’s proposed manufacturing of aircraft in Darwin, which the government said in March would be produced at a new Aerospace Manufacturing Precinct at the Darwin Airport and create “jobs and opportunities for Territorians to upskill in a growing aviation industry”.

However, in 2016, AAI promised a similar $100 million job-creating aerospace industry on the NSW Central Coast, after it signed a deal to relocate its non-existent operations in the United States to the Central Coast Airport at Warnervale. It was suggested at the time that manufacturing of the amphibious planes there would create 240 direct jobs.

But that deal fell through for unknown reasons in 2020, shortly before Mr Webster took on the role of AAI’s CEO, while transitioning from his role with Elbit Systems of Australia.

Mr Potter’s now defunct LinkedIn page shows he worked for Elbit Systems of Australia from January 2018 to July 2020 at the same time AAI CEO Dan Webster was the managing director of that company. Mr Potter worked first as “regional manager” for the NT and SA before becoming “business development manager” until July 2020.

Four months after leaving Elbit, Mr Potter became Ms Manison’s “senior adviser”, according to the secret LinkedIn account.

Mr Webster meanwhile is currently listed as a non-executive director with Elbit while also CEO of AAI. Elbit is listed as a partner of AAI on promotional materials regarding the Albatross amphibious aircraft.

Potter travelled at taxpayers expense to secure contracts and funding for AAI

On top of the $10 million commitment to the company, Mr Potter and NT Investment Commissioner Andy Cowan have travelled around Asia at taxpayer expense to arrange supply deals for AAI, photos show, and it’s understood other meetings seeking financing for the company have also been held.

(L-R) NT Investment Commissioner Andy Cowan with AAI CEO Dan Webster and Brent Potter in Japan last month.

Mr Potter was last month in Japan with Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, Mr Cowan and Mr Webster where AAI signed an MOU with Japan-based Shinmaywa Industries, which is understood to involve the Japanese company agreeing to supply AAI with parts if it proceeds to the production stage, which has been pushed out a year to 2026 from original dates offered late last year.

The NT Government has spruiked AAI repeatedly in official government releases this year as an “exciting venture that will create hundreds of jobs”.

Ms Fyles said last week in a statement that the NT Government has completed work “facilitating a collaboration agreement between AAI and 15 other signatories” to bring the project to fruition.

However, a review of the companies listed show they are suppliers, not buyers, which appears to mean they have agreed to sell AAI parts, not purchase planes, if the company begins production.

The NT Government also recently paid for high-profile businessman and television Shark Tank investor Steve Baxter to fly to Darwin at taxpayers’ expense for a ceremonial singing of a purchase agreement he made with AAI to buy the first Albatross aircraft now expected in 2026.

Other jobs Brent Potter listed on now deleted LinkedIn profile show overlap with his public service role

Mr Potter had also listed 3ME Technology – a producer of batteries for heavy vehicles – as a previous employer, working as their “business development manager” from September 2020 to April 2021, that inexplicably coincided with his position as senior policy adviser to Ms Manison, that started in November 2020.

Mr Potter’s LinkedIn page also failed to show where and for how long he worked as an “aged care worker” as he has claimed in his bio on the party’s website.

Mr Potter and Territory Labor did not respond to questions about potential conflicts of interest and why Mr Potter’s LinkedIn account was deactivated ahead of the by-election.

Dan Webster and Amphibian Aerospace Industries also did not respond to questions.

Ms Fyles hand-picked Brent Potter as the candidate for Fannie Bay shortly after calling a snap by-election for August 20 in the electorate to replace Mr Gunner, who resigned from politics late last month. Mr Potter is also her chief-of-staff Gabrielle Mappas’s brother-in-law.