Scott Morrison
Current Position
Elected to the House of Representatives for Cook, New South Wales, 2007. Re-elected in 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2022.
Previous Positions
- Minister for Immigration and Border Protection from 18.9.2013 to 23.12.2014.
- Cabinet Minister from 18.9.2013 to 23.5.2022.
- Minister for Social Services from 23.12.2014 to 21.9.2015.
- Treasurer from 21.9.2015 to 28.8.2018.
- Prime Minister from 24.8.2018 to 23.5.2022.
- Minister for the Public Service from 29.5.2019 to 8.10.2021.
- Minister for Health from 14.3.2020 to 23.5.2022.
- Minister for Finance from 30.3.2020 to 23.5.2022.
- Minister for Industry, Science, Energy and Resources from 15.4.2021 to 23.5.2022.
- Minister for Home Affairs from 6.5.2021 to 23.5.2022.
- Treasurer from 6.5.2021 to 23.5.2022.
Mining Connections
John Kunkel, the former Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff: before his appointment by Morrison in 2018, Kunkle served as Rio Tinto’s chief advisor for Government Relations, working as a lobbyist for the multinational mining firm. Rio is one of Australia’s top coal miners. Before this Kunkel was Deputy CEO of the Mineral Council of Australia for over six years.
Brendan Pearson, Senior Advisor for International Trade and Investment for the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) 2019 to present. Pearson was the CEO of the MCA from 2014 untl 2017, where BHP Billiton pressured the MCA over Pearson’s radically pro-coal stances and insistance on government-subsidised coal projects.
Lobbying Connections
Former mining lobbyists who held key positions within Morrison’s staff include The former Prime Minister’s Principal Private Secretary, Yaron Finkelstein, the former CEO of Crosby Textor (now C|T) a multinational lobbying firm with close ties to the Liberal Party and the mining industry. Other C|T alumni include Liberal Party campaign director, Andrew Hirst and his deputy, Isaac Levido, as well as James McGrath, LNP Senator for Queensland and prominent public advocate for Adani’s Carmichael coal mine.
A further pro-mining lobbyist connection is Stephanie Wawn. Wawn was a senior advisor to Morrison and was previously employed as a manager for CapitalHill Advisory. CapitalHill’s clients included coal miner Glencore and pro-coal think tank, the Menzies Research Centre.
Media Connections
Another way in which the mining lobby exerted its influence is via the former Prime Minister’s communications team. Many of Morrison’s senior communications team have long-held ties to the Murdoch press. News Corporation is pro-coal and anti climate change.
Positions taken by News Corp staffers in the former Prime Minster’s office include Matthew Fynes-Clinton’s role as speechwriter. Fynes-Clinton was former deputy chief of staff and editor of The Courier Mail. Press Secretary, Andrew Carswell, formerly chief of staff at The Daily Telegraph and advisor Thomas Adolph, formerly with The Australian.