Julian Fletcher Grill (born 15 May 1940) is an Australian former politician. Grill was a member of the

Parliament of Western Australia The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Western Australia, forming the legislative branch of the Government of Western Australia. The parliament consists of a lower house, the Legislative ...

between 1977 and 2001.

Early life and education

Grill was born in Sydney, New South Wales and was brought up in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Collie, Western Australia, and

Subiaco, Western Australia Subiaco (known colloquially as Subi) is an inner- western suburb of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It is approximately west of Perth's central business district, in the City of Subiaco local government area. Historically a working-cl ...

. He attended

Perth Modern School , motto_translation = Knowledge is Power , location = Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia , country = Australia , coordinates = , mapframe-stroke-colour = #C60C30 , mapframe-marker-co ...

and the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany and various other facilitie ...

from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws.

Legal career

Grill was admitted to the Western Australian Bar of the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1966. A partner of Henshaw, Wheeldon and Grill; Evans and Grill; and Grill Browne and Co, he specialised in mining and resources law.

Parliamentary career

Grill was elected as the Member for Yilgarn-Dundas in Western Australia's Lower House in 1977. Due to redistributions the seat changed a number of times, initially becoming Esperance-Dundas and eventually Eyre. He was re-elected in subsequent elections, and was promoted to the front bench in 1981. Grill became Minister for Transport in the First Burke Ministry in 1983. He later served in the Agriculture, Fisheries, the North West, Regional Development, Economic Development, Trade and Tourism portfolios. He retired from politics in 2001 and did not contest the 2001 election. As a politician, Grill commenced planning for metropolitan rail expansion and electrification, re-establishing the Perth to Fremantle rail service, led the legislative process to abolish capital punishment, led streamlining the rail freight services to cut out overmanning, initiated rail rejuvenation in the Perth metropolitan area, began the process of selling WA education in Asia, with colleagues conceived and instituted the Bunbury 2000 programme, executed the state's largest regional renewal project, wrote the energy policy adopted by the Gallop government, superintended the state's first substantial marine national parks and reserves, led conception and delivery of the

Hillarys Boat Harbour Hillarys Boat Harbour is a marina and tourist precinct located in Hillarys, north of Perth, Western Australia and on the Indian Ocean. History Hillarys Boat Harbour was the first such major marina in the north metropolitan region of Perth. Co ...

development, was a member of the team that established the Dawesville Channel, led trade delegations to India, China and Hong Kong, secured substantial funding for community projects in Collie, discontinued the Fitzgerald National Park land release programme, facilitated the government's commitment to the Collie Power Station, facilitated the commitment of

Griffin Coal Griffin Coal is a large coal mine near the town of Collie in Western Australia, producing about of coal annually. In September 2022 its current owner, the Griffin Coal Mining Company, a subsidiary of Lanco Infratech, entered receivership. In D ...

to the Bluewaters Power Station, and helped convince Worsley (BHP) to embrace coal in its recent major expansions.

Post-parliamentary career

As a lobbyist Grill contributed directly to breaking the Pilbara iron-ore duopoly (

BHP Billiton BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

and

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, ...

) helping to open the way for

Fortescue Metals Group Fortescue Metals Group Limited (often referred to as Fortescue Metals Group, FMG, or simply Fortescue) is an Australian iron ore company. As of 2017, Fortescue is the fourth-largest iron ore producer in the world. The company has holdings of m ...

and others. He also helped secure compensation for victims of the mortgage brokers scandal in Western Australia and played a key role in advancing several major projects, many of which generated significant employment in Western Australia. In 2007 Grill was expelled from the Australian Labor Party over a donation he facilitated on behalf of a client to the WA Nationals during the 2004/05 financial year. Later in 2007, he was forced to publicly apologise to the Legislative Assembly for leaking a draft parliamentary committee report to Precious Metals Australia in 2006 after receiving it from longtime friend and former Labor minister John Bowler. The following year, he was ordered to apologise in writing to the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, the lower house. The two Houses ...

for giving Burke documents from an inquiry into the iron ore industry. However, he refused to do so, putting him at risk of being jailed for contempt of parliament, though the Upper House ultimately opted against jailing him. Grill was investigated by the Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia and was charged. He was subsequently found not guilty of all charges. In 2014 Grill was involved in business providing specialist expertise in negotiation, business acquisitions, property development and general management. Grill has been chairman or a non-executive director of ASX-listed companies Asia Oil and Minerals, Kalgoorlie Boulder Resources, Regal Resources, and Focus Resources. He was the principal of Julian Grill Consulting and is the principal of Julian Grill Advisory. His interests include agriculture, resources, civil rights and the Goldfields of Western Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grill, Julian 1940 births Living people Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People educated at Perth Modern School Politicians from Sydney People from Goldfields-Esperance University of Western Australia alumni Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia 21st-century Australian politicians