Hugh Morgan (businessman)
Hugh Matheson Morgan (born 9 September 1940), is an Australian businessman and former CEO of Western Mining Corporation (1990 to 2003). He was President of the Business Council of Australia from 2003 to 2005. The Howard government appointed him to the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia 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 and the University of Melbourne, 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 and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology, Science and Engineering (ATSE). In 1993, Patricia Howard from The Canberra Times 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 (an anti-arbitration group) and in funding the Centre for Independent Studies and "other right wing think tanks." At the time of his exit from WMC Resources, Morgan was described in the Sydney Morning Herald as "a key business sounding board for the Federal Government". The former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett 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 and Native Title, and during the Howard government was a frequent guest of the Prime Minister. Aboriginal land rights Morgan once claimed that Native Title 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, opposed to the Kyoto Protocol and, as a member of the Greenhouse Mafia and president of the Lavoisier Group, was central to a