A consultancy firm which employs former Premier Mark McGowan as a strategic advisor is lobbying on behalf of Alcoa ahead of the 2025 state election.
A consultancy firm which employs former Premier Mark McGowan as a strategic advisor is lobbying on behalf of Alcoa ahead of the 2025 state election.
Founded by former Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey, Bondi Partners revealed Alcoa was one of its clients in an update to the Western Australian lobbying register published earlier this month.
Mr McGowan joined Bondi shortly after his shock resignation in May 2023 and is the firm’s highest profile local employee.
At the time of his employment by Bondi, Mr McGowan was blocked from registering as a lobbyist under the state’s Integrity (Lobbyists) Act 2016 – which prevents former parliamentarians from signing up to lobby for 12 months after they leave office.
While now eligible, Mr McGowan is not listed as a registered lobbyist.
Bondi lists three east coast-based lobbyists – advisor Georgette Abernethy, Australian government relations director Phillip Hudson and senior advisor Tom O’Farrell – on the WA register.
Business News followed up rumours of links between Alcoa and Mr McGowan late last year, which Alcoa did not confirm. The miner was not listed as a client of Bondi at the time.
Freedom of Information requests by Business News analysing the ministerial diaries of Environment Minister Reece Whitby and Mines Minister David Michael did not show any meetings with Mr McGowan from January 1 until October last year. Premier Roger Cook met with Mr McGowan twice over the same period.
Alcoa also engages Dixie Marshall-chaired GRA Partners to lobby on its behalf in WA. Business News understands GRA was aware of Bondi’s involvement with Alcoa.
It is not clear whether the former Premier is engaged with Alcoa in his strategic advisory capacity at Bondi, and Mr McGowan was unavailable for comment when contacted by Business News.
An Alcoa spokesperson said the company did not disclose the details of its consultants.
“Alcoa engages with a range of external consultants for a variety of purposes, but we do not share details of such engagements publicly,” they said.
But the former Premier’s insights would likely be welcome, given the challenges Alcoa faces in Western Australia.
Mr McGowan’s Bondi profile offers the firm’s clients strategic and investment advice, based on his experience in the Royal Australian Navy and in parliament for 25 years.
The bauxite miner and alumina producer has faced social license hurdles in recent years and is currently the subject of a review by the state’s Environmental Protection Authority.
As Premier, Mr McGowan met with Alcoa’s global chief executive Roy Harvey in late 2022 as the business sought to expand the footprint of its Huntly bauxite mine, increase production from its Pinjarra alumina refinery, and gain approval to export bauxite.
In early 2023, Mr McGowan played down a report that the miner’s operations in the Darling Range could compromise the state’s water supply at Serpentine Dam.
Mr Harvey has since been replaced by William Oplinger, and Matt Reed – Perth-based at the time, and now residing in Sydney – appointed to Alcoa’s global chief operations officer.
Post Mr McGowan’s political departure, the state approved a continuation of Alcoa’s bauxite mining operations in existing mining areas in December 2023 with a series of conditions and an exemption allowing it to continue operations if the EPA chose to review its approvals.
An EPA review was announced within a week of that approval, and a decision to fully curtail production at the ageing Kwinana alumina refinery was made the following month.
The company is now required to produce a rolling five-year mine management plan in WA each year, and challenged by lower bauxite grades in areas it has previously mined.
Mr McGowan’s business links have also made headlines since his fatigue-induced resignation in May 2023, after which he walked away with a $274,867 annual pension as one of the last parliamentarians on the state’s old pension scheme.
On top of his Bondi role, the former Premier consults to BHP and was engaged as a part-time strategic advisor by Mineral Resources late in 2023.
He also sat on the advisory panel of APM Human Services until its takeover by Madison Dearborn in September 2024.
A mooted appointment as chair of renewable energy aspirant Frontier Energy, which was announced, never ratified and later cancelled, would have put Mr McGowan on the same board as Ms Marshall at the ASX-listed entity.
In a rare public appearance in November 2024, Mr McGowan stressed the importance of relationship building at a WA Mining Club lunch.
“…Build relationships with people inside the departments, with people inside parliament,” he said when asked for advice on approaching the approvals process.
“Build relationships, make friends, so that if you ever want to talk to someone you have a contact.”
Alcoa is one of three clients listed by Bondi Partners on the lobbyist register, alongside International Graphite and Newtown Consulting.
Bondi Partners did not respond to requests for comment by time of publication.
