Greg Hunt

Gregory Andrew "Greg" Hunt (born 18 November 1965) is an Australian politician and has been a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives since November 2001, representing the Division of Flinders, Victoria. He has been the Minister for the Environment since 18 September 2013.^[1]

Background and early career

Hunt was born in Melbourne and was educated at The Peninsula School. He graduated from Melbourne Law School with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours), where he won a prize for a final year thesis he co-authored entitled A Tax to Make the Polluter Pay.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} He subsequently studied at Yale University, where he was a Fulbright Scholar and obtained a Master of Arts in International Relations. He was Associate to the Chief Justice of the Australian Federal Court in 1992.

Hunt was senior adviser to Alexander Downer, both as Leader of the Opposition (1994–95) and Minister for Foreign Affairs (1995–98). He worked for McKinsey & Company (1999–2001) and was Director of Strategy at the World Economic Forum in Geneva (2000–01).

Political career

Hunt was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage in October 2004. In January 2007 he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Following the 2007 election, Hunt was appointed Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water.^[7] After the 2010 election, he was re-appointed to the Shadow Ministry as Shadow Minister for Climate Change Denial, Environment and Heritage.^[8]

After the 2013 election, Hunt was appointed Minister for the Environment under Prime Minister Tony Abbott on 18 September 2013.^[9]

On 19 September, one of his first actions as Minister for the Environment was to ring Tim Flannery, the head of the Climate Commission, to announce the closure of the scientific advisory body.^[10]

In October 2013, while being interviewed by the BBC, Hunt referred to research that he had conducted using Wikipedia to refute Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in regards to the relationship between climate change and bushfires.^[11][12][13] He said:

"Australia has since European settlement and obviously well before that, had a history of recurrent bushfires. I looked up what Wikipedia says, for example, just to see what the rest of the world thought, and it opens up with the fact that bushfires in Australia are frequently occurring events during the hotter months of the year. Large areas of land are ravaged every year by bushfires. That’s the Australian experience."^[14][15][16]

In December 2013 Hunt announced a project to dredge Abbot Point, which was approved by the Marine Park Authority in January 2014.^[17]

Personal life

Hunt is married and has a daughter and a son. His father, Alan Hunt, was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council between 1961 and 1992.

References

External links

• Greg Hunt's personal website

Abbott Ministry (2013–) Prime Minister: Tony Abbott Cabinet Eric Abetz Kevin Andrews Bruce Billson Julie Bishop George Brandis Mathias Cormann Peter Dutton Joe Hockey Greg Hunt Barnaby Joyce Sussan Ley Ian Macfarlane Scott Morrison Christopher Pyne Andrew Robb Nigel Scullion Warren Truss Malcolm Turnbull Outer Ministry Simon Birmingham Jamie Briggs Michaelia Cash Mitch Fifield Josh Frydenberg Luke Hartsuyker Michael Keenan Fiona Nash Marise Payne Stuart Robert Michael Ronaldson Parliamentary Secretaries Karen Andrews Bob Baldwin Darren Chester Steven Ciobo Richard Colbeck Concetta Fierravanti-Wells Paul Fletcher Michael McCormack Kelly O'Dwyer Christian Porter Scott Ryan Alan Tudge Dismissed/resigned David Johnston Arthur Sinodinos