Malcolm Turnbull

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Malcolm Turnbull
Minister for Environment and Water Resources
In office 23 Jan 2007 – present
Preceded by	Ian Campbell
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Constituency	Wentworth
Majority	2.5%
Born	24 October 1954
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse	Lucy Turnbull née Hughes
Children	Alexander and Daisy
Religion	Roman Catholic (Christianity)
Website	malcolmturnbull.com.au/

Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954), Australian politician, is the Federal Minister for Environment and Water Resources. He is a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Wentworth since October 2004. He was a barrister, merchant banker, and leader of the Australian Republican Movement before entering politics.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Politics 4 Family 5 Writing 6 External link

[edit] Early life

Turnbull spent his first three years of school at Vaucluse Public School. He continued his primary education at Sydney Grammar Prep, St Ives . He then went to Sydney Grammar School's Senior school at College Street in Sydney. He was Dux of his year at both the Prep school and was the Senior Prefect and Captain of the School (top in the humanities subjects) at the Senior school. In 1987, in memory of his late father, he set up the Bruce Turnbull means-tested scholarship at Sydney Grammar School, which offers full remission of fees to a student who is unable to pay the school's fees.

Turnbull graduated from Sydney University with a double degree in law and arts. He then studied law at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar from 1978 to 1980. He studied for a Bachelor of Civil Law degree while at Oxford and then returned to Australia. While at University in Sydney he worked as a political journalist for The Nation Review, Radio 2SM and Channel 9 covering state politics. While at Oxford he worked for The Sunday Times of London as well as contributing to a number of other newspapers and magazines in the United States and Australia. He was married to Lucy Hughes in 1980 at Cumnor while he was studying at Oxford and he and Lucy returned to Australia later that year when he was admitted to the Bar. Turnbull left the Bar in 1983 to become the General Counsel for Consolidated Press Holdings Limited, the Packer family's media group. He rose to the public's attention as the successful advocate in the Spycatcher trial (he blocked the British Government's attempts to suppress the memoirs of a former MI5 agent), and later wrote a book on the trial.

[edit] Career

Turnbull has also had a career in business. He was General Counsel and Secretary for Australian Consolidated Press Holdings Group, the family company of Kerry Packer, from 1983 to 1985. During this time he defended Packer against the "Goanna" allegations made by the Costigan Commission. In partnership with Bruce McWilliam he established his own law firm, Turnbull McWilliam, in 1986 and in that year successfully defended Peter Wright in his battle with the British Government over his book Spycatcher. In 1987 he established an investment banking firm, Whitlam Turnbull & Co Ltd in partnership with Neville Wran (former Labor Premier of New South Wales) and the former State Bank of NSW chief executive, Nicholas Whitlam (son of Gough Whitlam, former Labor Prime Minister of Australia). Whitlam parted company with the others in 1990 and from then until 1997 when Turnbull moved to become a manager director and later a partner of Goldman Sachs, the firm operated as Turnbull & Partners Ltd. Turnbull was also chair of Australia's leading email company OzEmail Ltd (1994-99), a director of FTR Holdings Ltd (1995-2004), chair and managing director of Goldman Sachs Australia (1997-2001) and a partner with Goldman Sachs and Co (1998-2001).

In 1999 Turnbull sold OzEmail to the then telecommunications giant MCI Worldcom. Turnbull's stake was reportedly worth nearly A$60 million. He is often described as Australia's richest parliamentarian.

From 1993 to 2000 Turnbull was the chairman of the Australian Republican Movement. He was an elected delegate at the Constitutional Convention in Canberra in February, 1998, and in 1999 published a book on the subject, called Fighting for the Republic. Following the unsuccessful 1999 referendum campaign to establish an Australian republic, in 2000 Turnbull retired as chairman of the Australian Republican Movement.

In May 2002, Turnbull appeared before the HIH royal commission and was questioned on Goldman Sachs' involvement on the possible privatisation of one of the acquisitions of the collapsed insurance company. The Royal Commmissioner's Report made no adverse findings against him or Goldman Sachs.

Despite Turnbull's involvement with the republican movement, his frequent criticism of Prime Minister John Howard during the referendum, and his business partnership with Neville Wran, he has always been a Liberal. He was Federal Treasurer of the Liberal Party, and a member of the Liberal Party's Federal and New South Wales Executives, 2002-03, and was also a director of the Menzies Research Centre, the Liberal Party's research centre.

[edit] Politics

In 2003 Turnbull announced that he was seeking a seat in federal Parliament. In early 2004 he won a hotly contested preselection battle for the seat of Wentworth, the eastern suburbs electorate of Sydney, defeating Peter King, the sitting Liberal member. King ran for the seat at the 2004 election as an independent. This turned the traditionally safe Liberal electorate into an electoral wildcard, the contest for the seat becoming a three man race between Turnbull, King and Labor candidate David Patch. During the campaign, Turnbull spent over $600,000 on electoral expenditure.[1] The Liberal vote fell 10 percent, but Turnbull still won.

Since his election Turnbull has made a series of speeches on economic matters, particularly taxation, which some commentators have seen as implied criticisms of the policies of the Treasurer, Peter Costello, although Turnbull denies this.

Announcing his cabinet reshuffle on 24 January 2006, Australian Prime Minister John Howard promoted Turnbull from the backbench to Parliamentary Secretary, with special responsibility for water. In this new capacity he reports directly to the Prime Minister [2].

On 26 September 2006 John Howard announced the creation, within the department of the Prime Minister, of the new "Office of Water Resources" to address the problem of drought in Australia. Turnbull was in charge of this office until he was elevated by Prime Minister John Howard to head the Environment and Water Resources portfolio in January 2007.

In February 2007 Turnbull was criticised for claiming a government allowance of $175 a night and giving it to his wife as rent while living in a townhouse in Canberra, that she owns.[3]

[edit] Family

Turnbull is married, with two children, Alexander and Daisy, and lives in Sydney. His wife, Lucy Turnbull, a prominent businesswoman and a former Lord Mayor of Sydney, is the daughter of distinguished Australian barrister and former federal Attorney-General Tom Hughes AO QC, and her uncle is writer and art critic Robert Hughes.

[edit] Writing

Turnbull has written several books in relation to his contributions to the Republican debate, as well as his experiences during the Spycatcher trial. Notable examples of his writings include: "The Spycatcher Trial (1988)"; "The Reluctant Republic (1993, foreword by Robert Hughes)"; and "Fighting for the Republic: the Ultimate Insider's Account (1999)".

In 1994 a portrait of Malcolm Turnbull by artist Bill Leak won the People's choice award at the Archibald Prize.

[edit] External link

• Malcolm Turnbull's website

Current Cabinet of Australia
Abbott | Andrews | Bishop | Brough | Coonan | Costello | Downer | Ellison | Hockey | Howard | Macfarlane | McGauran | Minchin | Nelson | Ruddock | Truss | Turnbull | Vaile