Ian Macfarlane

CURRENT POSITIONS

• CEO, Queensland Resources Council (QRC)
• Chairman of the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC)
• Board member, CSIRO, 2021 – Present
• Non-executive director, Woodside Energy 2016 – Present
• Board Member, Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise, 2018 – Present

• Minister for Small Business 2001
• Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources from 2001 to 2007.
• Minister for Industry from 2013 to 2014.
• Minister for Industry and Science from 2014 to 2015.

• Former Queensland Liberal MP Ian Macfarlane held the Industry and Resources portfolio from 26 November 2001 until 3 December 2007, and was later Minister for Industry and Science, with responsibility for the CSIRO, between 18 September 2013 and 21 September 2015.
• An attempt by Macfarlane to defect to The Nationals in 2015 was rejected by the LNP state executive due to concerns over the stability of the federal coalition.
•  After leaving politics, Macfarlane became CEO of mining lobby the Queensland Resources Council, (QRC), a position he continues to hold. The appointment was criticised at the time for  breach of the current statement of ministerial standards, which requires that ex-ministers not engage in lobbying for an eighteen-month period after ceasing to be a minister. Former Greens senator Lee Rhiannon stated in a 2016 media release that “Australians are sick to death of the revolving door between politics, big business and big polluters,” after hearing of Macfarlane’s appointment to the Queensland Resources Council.
• Macfarlane’s predecessor at QRC, Michael Roche, has been worked as a strategic advisor at McCullough Robertson Lawyers since February 2017. Roach has since passed away, August 2019.
  • McCullough Robertson, now Queensland’s largest law firm, represents ERM Power Limited, Adani, Peabody Energy and the Queensland Government.
  • McCullough Robertson lawyer Trent Thorne heads the Rural Press Club of Queensland.
• MacFarlane is also a board member of the CSIRO, as well as Woodisde Energy and the Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise.