Ian Richard Smith is an Australian businessman, corporate advisor and former

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. He is a founder of the firm Bespoke Approach, and is considered by ''The Power Index'' to be one of Australia's most influential political

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

Career

Smith's first job in Australia was as a reporter for the Wagga Wagga'' Daily Advertiser. ''He later transferred to '' The Advertiser'' in Adelaide, for which he continues to write occasional opinion editorial pieces and provide political commentary. He founded the firm Bespoke Approach in 2008, and solicited former Federal politicians

Alexander Downer Alexander John Gosse Downer (born 9 September 1951) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United King ...

and

Nick Bolkus Nick Bolkus (born 17 July 1950) is a former Australian Labor Party politician. He was a member of the Senate from July 1981 to June 2005, representing the state of South Australia. Early career Bolkus was born in Adelaide and educated at Adela ...

to become partners. The firm's fourth partner is

Andrew Butcher Andrew Butcher is an Australian businessman, former spokesperson for Rupert Murdoch, an accomplished race car driver, and a partner in corporate advisory firm and political lobbyist, Bespoke Approach. Career Butcher became Rupert Murdoch's long ...

, a former spokesperson for

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

. Smith modeled the business on the way that the Kissingers, Albrights and Scowcrofts lobbied in the USA. Smith has worked as a media adviser for the

Liberal party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

in South Australia and to former Victorian Premier

Jeff Kennett Jeffrey Gibb Kennett (born 2 March 1948) is a former Australian politician who was the 43rd Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999, and currently a media commentator. He was previously the president of the Hawthorn Football Club, serving ...

. He is a former CEO of public relations firm, Gavin Anderson & Co, one of the largest in Australia. In 2011 Smith was listed on Crikey's ''The Power Index'' as one of Australia's ten most influential political lobbyists. Smith is a former member of the

Committee for Melbourne The Committee for Melbourne is a non-profit organisation based in Melbourne, Australia. The committee was founded in 1985 to bring together businesses, academia and non-profit organisations for activities, networking, and policy advice to governme ...

and advocated for the establishment of the Committee for Adelaide in South Australia on which he now sits. Smith's other advisory group and board memberships include ''

The Big Issue ''The Big Issue'' is a street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer homeless people, or indivi ...

'', the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes the Northern Territory Government’s Economic Development Panel and Developing East Arnhem Land Ltd. The latter company was established by the Northern Territory government, the Commonwealth government and mining company Rio Tinto to drive economic development in East Arnhem Land. As of 2015, Smith is also the United Kingdom’s Honorary Consul in South Australia. In November 2015, Smith was scheduled to appear on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

TV talk show, Q&A.

Not-for-profit sector

In mid-2015 Smith co-founded Barefoot to Boots with Awer G. Bul (brother of football player

Awer Mabil Awer Bul Mabil (born 15 September 1995) is a professional soccer player who plays as a winger for La Liga club Cádiz. Born in Kenya, he represents the Australia national team at international level. Born a South Sudanese refugee in Kenya, ...

), an organisation which helps refugees by "providing them with simple things that are otherwise inaccessible" to boost their resilience and help them to develop new skills. He is also an Ambassador for LivingPositive, an organisation which aims to remove the stigma surrounding people living with HIV:AIDS. He is also Ambassador for the Orangutan Project which works on the protection of

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

s in Indonesia. Smith is also chair of Jirrawun Arts, an

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

arts organisation in the East Kimberley.

Personal life

Smith was born in

Epsom, Surrey Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. ...

, England and emigrated to Australia after visiting as a backpacker in the 1980s. He is married to former leader of the

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australia ...

Natasha Stott Despoja Natasha Jessica Stott Despoja AO (born 9 September 1969) is an Australian politician, diplomat, advocate and author. She is the founding Chair of the Board of Our Watch, the national foundation to prevent violence against women and their childr ...

and lives in

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ian Australian lobbyists Living people Australian businesspeople Year of birth missing (living people)