Name Hugh Morgan | ||
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Hugh Matheson Morgan AC, (born 9 September 1940), an Australian businessman, is the son of former Western Mining Corporation CEO Bill Morgan, and was himself CEO of WMC from 1990 to 2003. He was also 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. He also was the Founding Chairman of Asia Society Australia.
Contents
- Opposition to action on climate change
- Advocacy for nuclear industrial development
- Current appointments
- Past appointments
- Honours
- References
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 campaign to prevent the Federal Liberal Government from acting to cut emissions (in collaboration with fellow former WMC executive Ray Evans).
Advocacy for nuclear industrial development
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. 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 went on to predict that Australia could potentially have 25 nuclear reactors producing a third of the country's electricity by 2050. In 2015, the company was described as being "in commercial hibernation from which it is unlikely to return."
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. When conservation agreements were made possible for "nuclear actions" under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, Morgan flagged how an internationally owned nuclear waste repository could be built. One such a proposal was announced for Aboriginal land during the Howard government. As of 2017, no such repository has been approved or constructed- though the concept was explored during the 2015-2016 Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission in South Australia.