Former prime minister Scott Morrison’s announcement that he’s set to join DYNE Maritime, a venture capital firm focused on emerging military technologies, makes him the latest politician to take business opportunities related to AUKUS.
Of all the former MPs and senators who have become involved in private AUKUS business, Morrison might be the one with the closest connection to the subject matter: he was responsible for creating the defence pact alongside US President Joe Biden and former UK prime minister Boris Johnson. But others on Crikey’s list have had very close access to AUKUS decision-makers as well.
Morrison
The former Liberal leader who is retiring from Parliament has confirmed he’s set to join DYNE Maritime, a $157 million fund launched in October with the aim of investing in dual use technologies — inventions that have military and civilian applications. According to The Australian Financial Review, DYNE Maritime has its sights set on technologies related to AUKUS.
Morrison, one of the leaders who launched AUKUS in 2021, told The Australian he will be strategic adviser to the firm, alongside former Trump administration secretary of state and CIA chief Mike Pompeo. He will also take another job alongside a different former Trump adviser: Morrison has been hired as the vice-chair of American Global Strategies, headed by former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien.
Arthur Sinodinos
As Crikey reported last week, the recent US ambassador and former Liberal industry minister has joined an outfit called AUKUS Forum. As co-chair of the business networking group, Sinodinos has been criss-crossing the country to promote business opportunities for regional companies aimed at “unleashing the regional power of AUKUS”. As Australia’s ambassador in Washington until early last year, Sinodinos was around for the formation of AUKUS and has posted to LinkedIn a picture of himself and Biden in front of an AUKUS banner.
Joel Fitzgibbon
Fitzgibbon, a former Labor defence and agriculture minister, is the other co-chair of AUKUS Forum. He described the project in a LinkedIn post as being aimed at “maximising Australian industry participation in the AUKUS pact”. A Labor old-timer in Parliament from 1996 to 2022, and having been in cabinet alongside some current key ministers, Fitzgibbon has lots of useful connections in Canberra. Among his post-politics social media posts are pictures where he poses with Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy.
Christopher Pyne
The former Liberal defence minister raised eyebrows in Canberra when he began taking defence consulting work in 2019, immediately after leaving Parliament. Since then AUKUS has made private defence businesses boom, and Pyne hasn’t slept on the opportunity. Last April, his lobby firm Pyne & Partners funded a bipartisan junket to Washington DC and New York, where the likes of Liberal Senator James Paterson and Labor MP Meryl Swanson were introduced to key US defence figures, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald. Crikey has previously chronicled Pyne’s AUKUS-linked business interests.
Joe Hockey
Another former Liberal cabinet minister and US ambassador, Hockey has extensive networks in both DC and Canberra that are useful for taking advantage of AUKUS. The ex-treasurer’s Bondi Partners advisory firm reckons “the opportunities for businesses on both sides of the Pacific Ocean will increase significantly” given the increased defence collaboration between the US and Australia. Just months after Morrison’s initial AUKUS announcement, Hockey and investment firm Ellerston Capital launched the 1941 Fund. As The Australian put it in a gushing article announcing the initiative, it’s “Australia’s first pure private investment play into national security … [backed by] a group of high-net-worth patriots from the US and Australia looking to put big licks of private capital behind dual-use technology in defence, intelligence, cyber and space, as well as commercial uses”.
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