Michael McCormack | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2016 | |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Australia | |
| In office 26 February 2018 – 22 June 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull Scott Morrison |
| Preceded by | Barnaby Joyce |
| Succeeded by | Barnaby Joyce |
| Leader of the National Party | |
| In office 26 February 2018 – 21 June 2021 | |
| Deputy | Bridget McKenzie David Littleproud |
| Preceded by | Barnaby Joyce |
| Succeeded by | Barnaby Joyce |
| Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Infrastructure & Transport (February 2018 – August 2018) | |
| In office 26 February 2018 – 22 June 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull Scott Morrison |
| Preceded by | Barnaby Joyce |
| Succeeded by | Barnaby Joyce |
| Minister for Veterans' Affairs & Minister for Defence Personnel | |
| In office 20 December 2017 – 5 March 2018 | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull |
| Preceded by | Dan Tehan |
| Succeeded by | Darren Chester |
| Minister for Small Business | |
| In office 19 July 2016 – 20 December 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull |
| Preceded by | Kelly O'Dwyer |
| Succeeded by | Craig Laundy(as Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation) |
| Assistant Minister for Defence | |
| In office 18 February 2016 – 19 July 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | Malcolm Turnbull |
| Preceded by | Darren Chester |
| Succeeded by | David Fawcett(2018) |
| Member of theAustralian Parliament forRiverina | |
| Assumed office 21 August 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Kay Hull |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Michael Francis McCormack (1964-08-02)2 August 1964 (age 61) Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia |
| Party | National |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | michaelmccormack |
Michael Francis McCormack (born 2 August 1964) is an Australian politician who served as thedeputy prime minister of Australia and the leader of theNational Party from 2018 to 2021. He has been amember of parliament (MP) for theNew South Wales division ofRiverina since 2010. McCormack previously held various ministerial positions in theTurnbull andMorrison governments.
McCormack was born inWagga Wagga,New South Wales as one of five children born to Eileen Margaret (née Margosis; 1938–2018)[1][2] and Lance McCormack (d. 2008),[3] a dryland farmer. His maternal grandfather, George Peter Margosis, was born in 1896 inAkrata, Greece; his other three grandparents were born in New South Wales.[4][5][6] He had four siblings, Denise, Robyn, Julieanne and Mark.[2] He grew up on the family farms in nearbyMarrar andBrucedale. He attended St Michael's Regional High School and Trinity Senior High School (later merged intoKildare Catholic College).[7]
After leaving school, McCormack took up a cadetship atThe Daily Advertiser, the local daily newspaper. He was appointed editor of the paper in 1991, aged 27, making him reputedly the "youngest newspaper editor in Australia".[8] McCormack was sacked fromThe Daily Advertiser in February 2002. In response, "more than 20 journalists, photographers and other editorial staff" staged a 24-hour walkout.[9] He went on to sue the Riverina Media Group for unfair dismissal, and in 2003 settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.[10] McCormack subsequently started his own media and publishing company, MSS Media Services and Solutions.[11] He also served as a director of the Murrumbidgee Turf Club from 1994 to 2003, as well as its official historian.[12]
McCormack was campaign director forKay Hull, the Nationals MP forRiverina, at the2004 and2007 federal elections. Hull announced her retirement from politics in April 2010, and McCormack subsequently wonpreselection for her seat at the2010 election.[13] TheLiberals stood a candidate in Riverina for the first time since1998, but that had little impact on the result, with the Nationals recording a 3.6-point positive swing on atwo-party-preferred basis.[14]
After theCoalition won the2013 election, McCormack was madeparliamentary secretary to theMinister for Finance,Mathias Cormann. He was later appointedAssistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister,Warren Truss, in September 2015.[15] In February 2016, he becameAssistant Minister for Defence underMarise Payne.[15]
In July 2016, after the2016 election, McCormack was appointedMinister for Small Business. In that capacity, he was responsible for theAustralian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which conducted the2016 national census and theAustralian Marriage Law Postal Survey during his tenure.[16][17] He opposes same-sex marriage, but voted in favour of theMarriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 after promising to vote in line with the survey result in his constituency.[18] In a ministerial reshuffle in December 2017, McCormack was madeMinister for Defence Personnel,Minister for Veterans' Affairs, andMinister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC, positions which had previously been held byDan Tehan.[15] In February 2018, McCormack introduced a bill which implemented several new initiatives delivering better services to veterans and their families.[19]
When Warren Truss retired as leader of the National Party in February 2016, McCormack publicly contemplated standing as his replacement.[20] He eventually chose not to run for the leadership, allowingBarnaby Joyce to win the position unopposed. He did stand for the deputy leadership (which Joyce had vacated), but lost to SenatorFiona Nash reportedly by only a single vote.[21] In December 2017, McCormack again contested the deputy leadership of the National Party, which had been made vacant as a result of Fiona Nash'sdisqualification from parliament. He was defeated byBridget McKenzie, once again losing by only one vote.[22]
Following the resignation of Barnaby Joyce in February 2018, McCormack announced that he would contestthe resulting leadership vote.[23] Several other MPs publicly endorsed him for the position, and the only other announced candidate,David Gillespie, withdrew his candidacy the day before the election.George Christensen launched a last-minute bid for the leadership, but was defeated by McCormack, who succeeded Joyce asDeputy Prime Minister of Australia.[24] He also replaced Joyce asMinister for Infrastructure and Transport.[25]
After the Coalition won the2019 federal election, McCormack was re-elected party leader unopposed.[26] On 4 February 2020, Joyce unsuccessfully challenged McCormack as leader of the Nationals.[27] A second leadershipleadership spill was held on 21 June 2021, and was called by the Senator for Queensland,Matt Canavan. McCormack had been criticised for his performance during Question Time while serving as Acting Prime Minister, as well as not "extracting enough from the Prime Minister" in relation to a net zero emissions target.[28] McCormack was defeated by his predecessorBarnaby Joyce, who assumed the former's position as leader and Deputy Prime Minister. He then returned to the backbench.[29]
McCormack was re-elected at the2022 election with a reduced vote-share of 64.85% on a two-party preferred basis. In June 2022, he was appointed by Opposition LeaderPeter Dutton as Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific.
McCormack, aRoman Catholic, married Catherine (née Shaw) in Saint Michael's Cathedral,Wagga Wagga in 1986. They have three children.[7][2]
In 1995, he became the owner of "the biggest collection of bound volumes ofThe Times anywhere in the world outside London", acquiring 900 volumes fromCharles Sturt University when it ran out of storage space.[30]
In 2022, McCormack was taken to the hospital after drinking a bowl of Micronesian sakau,[31] a concentrated version ofkava.[32] He had reportedly underestimated its potency.[33]
In 1993, McCormack published a controversial editorial in which he blamed homosexuality for AIDS and criticizedpride parades. He wrote that "a week never goes by anymore that homosexuals and their sordid behaviour don't become further entrenched in society [...] unfortunately gays are here and, if the disease their unnatural acts helped spread doesn't wipe out humanity, they’re here to stay". He asked "how can these people call for rights when they're responsible for the greatest medical dilemma known to man – Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome?"[citation needed]
The article was the subject of three complaints to theAustralian Press Council, though none was upheld.[34] In further editorials from the same period he said "I’m not sorry, why should I be?" about his views, and branded himself "homophobic".[35] McCormack subsequently wrote a second editorial apologising for the first.[36] His remarks resurfaced when he embarked on a career in politics, and he issued further apologies in 2010 and 2017, stating that he had "grown and learnt not only to tolerate, but to accept all people regardless of their sexual orientation or any other trait or feature which makes each of us different and unique".[37][38] Despite his apologies, the controversy resurfaced after he became Deputy Prime Minister (2018–2021).[39]
In other editorials, he called for the return ofcaning in high schools, saying "there is nothing wrong, in my opinion, with students [...] being given a 'stinging reminder' about how to conduct themselves".[citation needed] He also voiced support for thedeath penalty.
When asked for comment byThe Guardian, he said that "editorial views expressed more than 25 years ago in no way reflect how my views and community views have changed since publication [...] as people get older and start families, and grow as members of their community it is completely reasonable their views change over time".[35]
In August 2019, McCormack was Acting Prime Minister while the Prime Minister,Scott Morrison, was at aPacific Islands Forum. Morrison was being criticized by Pacific Islands leaders for Australia's contribution to global warming and rising sea levels, which threatened their low-lying territories. McCormack assured an Australian audience: "They’ll continue to survive because many of their workers come here and pick our fruit".[40]
In January 2020, McCormack's deputy leaderBridget McKenzie resigned her ministerial post after she admitted to having breached the ministerial code of conduct[41][42] and widespread accusations ofpork barrelling.[43]
It was subsequently revealed that regional infrastructure grants program administered by McCormack in the months leading up to the2019 federal election awarded 94 per cent of its grants to electorates held or targeted by the Coalition.[44]
In September 2020, McCormack was forced to backtrack an opinion attributing Victoria'ssecond COVID-19 outbreak to aBlack Lives Matter protest inMelbourne as a panellist on theQ+A program. When he was told there was lack of evidence regarding this by hostHamish Macdonald, McCormack stated that he'll "accept that but people shouldn't be protesting".[45] TheDepartment of Health and Human Services in Victoria had confirmed that no positive cases of COVID-19 came from the protest in June 2020, despite the fact that allowing the protest went against emergency health regulations in the state.[46]
In January 2021, McCormack was criticised for comparing the2021 storming of the United States Capitol by supporters ofDonald Trump to Black Lives Matter protesters saying, "Any form of protest, whether it’s a protest over racial riots or indeed what we’ve seen on Capitol Hill in recent days, is condemned and is abhorred.”[47] McCormack's statement was criticised byAmnesty International and theOpposition. A spokesperson for McCormack later said, "Any form of violence should be condemned."[48]
When was the last time you cried? When my father, Lance, died in 2008.
"In regards to the Grandfather of Mr McCormack Michael Francis, namely George Peter Margosis, allegedly born in 1896 in either Corinth or Akrata, following search conducted by our Offices, no registration of his in the Municipal and/ or Male Registries of either the Municipality of Corinth or the Municipality of Aigialeia appeared," reads the statement
{{cite web}}:|archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)McCormack got the editor's job at 27, which made him 29 when he wrote a column "from the editor's desk" that has dragged around behind him like a decaying carcass ever since. It demanded to know how the gay community could demand rights when its "sordid behaviour" was causing "the greatest medical dilemma known to man – AIDS". McCormack has since apologized and recanted a number of times.
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