Hugh Morgan (Australian businessman)

Hugh Matheson Morgan AC, (born September 9, 1940), an Australian businessman, is the son of former Western Mining Corporation CEO Bill Morgan, and was himself CEO of Western Mining Corporation from 1990 to 2003, and President of the Business Council of Australia from 2003 to 2005. The Howard Government appointed him to the Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of Australia in 1996 [cite news | title = Generous Liberal donor gets seat on Reserve board | last = Wade | first = Matt | work = Sydney Morning Herald | date = 2003-03-26 | url = http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/25/1048354599756.html | accessdate = 2007-06-29] . He also serves as the Chairman of the [http://www.asiasociety.org.au Asia Society AustralAsia Centre] .

Morgan is a politically vocal member of the Liberal party. He is sceptical of global warming and opposed to the Kyoto Protocol [http://www.lavoisier.com.au/papers/articles/MorganOz0602.html] and, as a member of the Greenhouse Mafia and supporter of the Lavoisier Group [http://www.lavoisier.com.au/papers/may2000/Morgan.html] , has been central to the campaign to prevent the Federal Liberal Government from taking actions to cut emissions [cite book | last = Hamilton | first = Clive | title = Scorcher: the dirty politics of climate change | year = 2007 | publisher = Black Inc. Agenda | id = ISBN 9780977594900] (in collaboration with fellow former WMC executive Ray Evans).

In June 2006, Hugh Morgan formed the company Australian Nuclear Energy with Fairfax chairman Ron Walker and fellow mining executive Robert Champion de Crespigny, planning to build nuclear power plants in Australia.cite news| title=Powerbrokers' nuclear dream - Businessmen want to build plant| author=George Lekakis| publisher="The Daily Telegraph| date=2007-02-27] Morgan has a 20% stake in the company. Controversially, Prime Minister John Howard revealed that he had a discussion with Mr Walker about the company days before he announced an inquiry into nuclear power (the inquiry predicted that Australia could have 25 nuclear reactors producing a third of the country's electricity by 2050) [cite news | last = Murphy | first = Katherine | title = Morgan reveals vision for nuclear Australia | newspaper = The Age (Melbourne) | date = 2007-04-05 | url = http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/morgan-reveals-vision-for-nuclear-australia/2007/04/04/1175366326273.html | accessdate = 2007-05-30] . Formerly an outspoken opponent of Aboriginal Land Rights (Morgan claimed Native Title threatened Australia's sovereignty), Morgan has more recently spoken of reconciling mining with Aboriginal welfare [cite news | title = Different shades of Hugh | work = Sydney Morning Herald | url = http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/08/16/1029114015683.html | date = 2002-08-17] . With less transparent conservation agreements under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, Morgan flagged how an internationally owned nuclear waste repository could be built [cite news | title = Limited scrutiny on nuclear projects | last = Murphy | first = Katharine | work = The Age (Melbourne) | date = 2007-04-09 | page = 3] (such as the one announced on Aboriginal land [cite news | title = Aboriginal land to be nuclear waste dump | url = http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/aboriginal-site-nominated-for-nuke-waste/2007/05/25/1179601635076.html | work = The Age (Melbourne) | date = 2007-05-27 | accessdate = 2007-05-30] late in the Howard Government era).

Current Appointments

*Chief Executive Officer of WMC Limited since 1990
*Member of the Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia
*President of the Australia Japan Business Co-operation Committee
*Trustee of The Asia Society, New York
*Chairman of the Asia Society AustralAsia Centre
*President of the Australian German Association
*Immediate Past Chairman of the International Council on Metals and the Environment

Past Appointments

*President of the German Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce form 1991-1994
*Chairman of the World Gold Council from 1989-1991
*Director of the World Gold Council from 1986-1991
*Member of the Executive Board of CSIRO from 1978-1983
*President of the Australian Mining Industry Council (now the Minerals Council of Australia) from 1981-1983
*Director of Alcoa of Australia from 1977 until 1998. Director of Alcoa Inc since 1998
*Graduate in Law and Commerce from the University of Melbourne

Awards

*Centenary Medal 2003

References

External links

* [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/08/16/1029114015683.html 2002 Sydney Morning Herald Article]