Hugh Matheson Morgan AC, (born 9 September 1940), is an Australian businessman and former CEO of

Western Mining Corporation Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

(1990 to 2003). He was President of the

Business Council of Australia The Business Council of Australia (BCA) is an industry association that comprises the chief executives of more than 100 of Australia's biggest corporations. It was formed in 1983 by the merger of the Business Roundtable – a spin-off of the Comm ...

from 2003 to 2005. The Howard Government appointed him to the board of the

Reserve Bank of Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority. It has had this role since 14 January 1960, when the ''Reserve Bank Act 1959'' removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank. Th ...

in 1996, where he remained until 2007. He also was the Founding Chairman of Asia Society Australia.

Career

Morgan was educated at

Geelong Grammar School , motto_translation = 1 Corinthians 1:30: "For us, Christ was made wisdom"( 1 Corinthians 1:30: Christ, who has been made for us in wisdom) , city = Corio, Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , ...

and the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb ...

where he studied law and commerce. He briefly worked as a lawyer for Arthur Robinson & Co. (Western Mining Corporation's law firm) then as a finance director at North Broken Hill (which later became North Limited).

Western Mining Corporation

Hugh is the son of former WMC CEO, Bill Morgan. After Bill died in the 1970s, Sir Arvi Parbo took Hugh under his wing and in 1976 made him Australia's youngest executive director. He was 36 years old at the time. In 1996, Morgan made the decision to spend $1.25 billion expanding the Olympic Dam mine in the far north of South Australia. He was CEO of WMC from 1990 until his retirement in 2003.

Reserve Bank of Australia

Morgan was first appointed to the Reserve Bank of Australia in 1981, but was not reappointed after a speech delivered in 1984 attracted criticism for his characterisation of aboriginal Australians. He was reappointed in 1996 and held the position until 2007.

Influence on public policy

Morgan is a vocal member of the

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United A ...

and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology, Science and Engineering (ATSE). In 1993, Patricia Howard from ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

'' described Morgan as "an extremely high profile defender of a range of "hard" right-wing ideals" and a serial writer of letters to the editors of various newspapers. She claimed he had been "instrumental" in forming the

H. R. Nicholls Society The HR Nicholls Society is an Australian think tank that focuses on industrial relations. It advocates full workplace deregulation, contains some Liberal MPs as members and is seen to be of the New Right. It was created in March 1986 after John ...

(an anti-arbitration group) and in funding the

Centre for Independent Studies The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) is an Australian libertarian think tank founded in 1976 which specialises in public policy research. It is based in Sydney and focuses on classical liberal issues such as free markets and limited gover ...

and "other right wing

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

s." At the time of his exit from WMC Resources, Morgan was described in the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' as "a key business sounding board for the Federal Government". The 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, servi ...

considered him to be one of the most influential people in Australia. Kennett described Morgan as having a "profound influence" on Australian policy debates in a "very quiet and yet qualitative way". He influenced public policy on matters of trade, taxation,

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...

and

Native Title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...

, and during the Howard Government was a frequent guest of the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Aboriginal land rights

Morgan once claimed that

threatened Australia's sovereignty, and was an outspoken opponent of Aboriginal Land Rights in the 1980s and 1990s. In the 2000s, Morgan spoke of reconciling mining with Aboriginal welfare and moderated his previously controversial commentary.

Opposition to action on climate-change

He is sceptical of

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, opposed to the

Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part ...

and, as a member of the

Greenhouse Mafia "Greenhouse Mafia" is the title of a TV program aired by Australian network ABC on the 13 February 2006 episode of its weekly current affairs program ''Four Corners''. The program says the term ''greenhouse mafia'' is the "in house" name used by A ...

and president of the

Lavoisier Group The Lavoisier Group is an Australian organisation formed by politicians and dominated by retired industrial businesspeople and engineers.Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Government from acting to cut emissions (in collaboration with fellow former WMC executive

Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and song-writing duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films. Evans wrote the lyrics and Living ...

Nuclear industrial development

Morgan advocates the development of

nuclear power in Australia The prospect of nuclear power in Australia has been a topic of public debate since the 1950s. Australia has one nuclear plant in Lucas Heights, Sydney, but is not used to produce nuclear power, but instead is used to produce medical radioisoto ...

. In June 2006, Hugh Morgan formed the company Australian Nuclear Energy with Fairfax chairman Ron Walker and fellow mining executive

Robert Champion de Crespigny Robert James Champion de Crespigny, AC (born 1950) is a multi-millionaire Australian businessman and founder of Normandy Mining Limited. Currently estimated with his ownership in PBE and Rutherford corporations his net worth is near 1B. In 2004 ...

and planned to build

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

plants in Australia. Morgan has a 20% stake in the company. Controversially, prime minister

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...

revealed that he had a discussion with Walker about the company days before he announced an inquiry into nuclear power. The inquiry, known as UMPNER or the Switkowski Review went on to predict that Australia could potentially have 25 nuclear reactors producing a third of the country's electricity by 2050. Morgan was one of five individuals listed as consulting during the Switkowski Review. The others were: Morgan's former WMC colleague Ian Duncan, anti-nuclear activists

Richard Broinowski Richard Philip Broinowski (born 8 May 1940) is a former Australian public servant and diplomat. He worked in Mexico, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, Iran and Burma, including as Ambassador to Mexico, Ambassador to Vietnam, and Ambas ...

and

Helen Caldicott Helen Mary Caldicott (born 7 August 1938) is an Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate. She founded several associations dedicated to opposing the use of nuclear power, depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear we ...

and scientist, Dr Tim Flannery. In 2007, Morgan told ''The Age'' that he was open to possible joint ventures with "key players" in the global nuclear business, such as Melbourne businessman John White, who had spent the prior decade developing the concept of nuclear fuel leasing. At the time, Morgan believed there were future opportunities in uranium mining, nuclear waste repositories and nuclear power plants. Treasurer John Costello wished Morgan's business partner Ron Walker "good luck" after he was informed of their Australian Nuclear Energy venture. When "conservation agreements" were made possible for "nuclear actions" under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, Morgan flagged how an internationally owned

nuclear waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons ...

repository could be built. One such a proposal was announced for Aboriginal land during the Howard government but did not proceed. Morgan's nuclear industrial development plans stalled after the Labor party won the 2007 Federal election. In 2015, his company Australian Nuclear Energy was described as being "in commercial hibernation from which it is unlikely to return." The concept of importing

spent nuclear fuel Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant). It is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction in an ordinary thermal reactor and ...

for storage and disposal in Australia was further explored during the 2015–2016

Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission is a Royal Commission into South Australia's future role in the nuclear fuel cycle. It commenced on 19 March 2015 and delivered its final report to the Government of South Australia on 6 May 2016. The Commi ...

in South Australia. In January 2017, Morgan told ''The Australian'' that he planned to lobby state and Federal Australian government on the subject of nuclear power in Australia. He told the newspaper that he thought that it "ought to be back on the agenda."

Current appointments

*President of the

Lavoisier Group The Lavoisier Group is an Australian organisation formed by politicians and dominated by retired industrial businesspeople and engineers.The Asia Society The Asia Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States ( Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) and around the world ( Hong Ko ...

, New York *Chairman Emeritus of the Asia Society AustralAsia Centre *President of the Australian German Association *Immediate Past Chairman of the International Council on Metals and the Environment *Chairman of BioDiem Limited *Chairman of The Heat Group *Member of the Trilateral Commission

Past appointments

*Member of the Board of the

*President of the Australia Japan Business Co-operation Committee *chief executive officer of WMC Limited since 1990 *President of the German Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce from 1991 to 1994 *Chairman of the World Gold Council from 1989 to 1991 *Director of the World Gold Council from 1986 to 1991 *Member of the Executive Board of CSIRO from 1978 to 1983 *President of the Australian Mining Industry Council (now the Minerals Council of Australia) from 1981 to 1983 *Director of

Alcoa of Australia Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals is a joint venture between Alumina Limited (40% share) and Alcoa (60% share) and is abbreviated to AWAC. AWAC's business is the mining of bauxite, the extraction of alumina ( aluminium oxide) and the smelting of al ...

from 1977 until 1998. Director of Alcoa Inc since 1998

Honours

* 2002 – Companion of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

* 2003 –

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

* 2007 –

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight f ...

, Grand Cordon (Japan)

Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs The is an executive department of the Government of Japan, and is responsible for the country's foreign policy and international relations. The ministry was established by the second term of the third article of the National Government Organ ...

(MOFA)
2007 Autumn Conferment of Decorations on Foreign Nationals, p. 1.
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Hugh Australian businesspeople 1940 births Living people Companions of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Australian people of German descent Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering