Former premier Mark McGowan has made one of his first public speaking appearances since his surprise resignation last May, talking US politics alongside his former treasurer Ben Wyatt.
Former premier Mark McGowan has made one of his first public speaking appearances since his surprise resignation last May, talking US politics alongside his former treasurer Ben Wyatt.
Mr McGowan, Mr Wyatt and US consul general Siriana Nair took to the stage at an exclusive, media-free American Chamber of Commerce in Australia event at Anzac House this afternoon.
A month out from the US election, the panel was quizzed on a range of questions relating to politics on the other side of the world.
Mr McGowan’s appearance was one of a handful since stepping away from public life in May last year, citing exhaustion as a result of the political grind combined with the impacts of leadership through the COVID years.
The former premier subsequently picked up advisory roles at BHP, Mineral Resources and APM Services International, joined Frontier Energy as chair and became a senior advisor at Joe Hockey’s US-focused advisory firm Bondi Partners.
But public events have been off the cards since his political retirement, making today a notable event.
Mr Wyatt left politics at the 2021 state election and since taken up a range of board roles including at Woodside, Rio Tinto and the West Coast Eagles while setting up consulting firm Wyatt Martin with former chief of staff Roger Martin.
Speaking to Business News, Mr Wyatt said he felt the panel was “discussing the right issues” ahead of the election in the US next month and welcomed his reunion with Mr McGowan.
“It’s the first time Mark and I have done anything together since we were both still members of parliament, so it was good,” he said.
Mr Wyatt, who is a Woodside board member at a time when the US-headquartered company appears to be pushing heavily into the US through multi-billion-dollar LNG and ammonia investments, said the US ballot would have security and economic impacts in the local context.
“I think the point I made is that the US election is relevant to any Australian, both in terms of a security perspective and, of course, an economic perspective,” he said.
“If you are a global business you are in some way, inevitably tied to capital that comes out of the United States.
“The outcome of an American election is always of huge significance.”
Ms Nair said it was interesting to hear the perspective of those who have held positions of political power in the Australian context.
“[Mr McGowan] clearly has a lot of experience in the political realm, having been Premier and held elected office for a long time,” she said.
“Its very interesting for me to hear his outside take on the US presidential election, and the things that are different politically from an Australian perspective versus the US.”
Ms Nair said while there would be substantial attention paid to the result of the November 5 election, she expected little to change in terms of Western Australia’s relationship with the US.
“A lot of those big policy decisions, like the [Inflation Reduction Act], those are bipartisan,” she said.
“That is not something that one party is pushing through, and in fact, the benefits to that legislation are felt in both red and blue states.”
Mr McGowan was not available for comment. He previously spoke at a media-free UDIA event earlier this year.
Business News understands the former premier was not paid for his appearance at the event.
