One of the most successful Greek Australian international businessmen might be considering a career change and returning back to Australia.
Andrew Liveris, the CEO of American based Dow Chemical, a $62 billion company has told Australian media that he is considering entering politics after his job is done at Dow.
Speaking to The Australian Financial Review from Switzerland at the World Economic Forum, Liveris says he has always had a strong interest in public policy and would consider a job in Australian politics.
“I’m very interested in the intersection between business and government,” he said to journalist John Kehoe.
“I would have to do it at the right moment, at the right time.”
Liveris is no stranger to politics, having been an advisor to former President Bill Clinton and is the co-chairman of President Barak Obama’s advanced manufacturing partnership and chairman of the US Business council.
If he chooses to enter Australian politics it could be through two outlets, via an American post or through preselection, possibly in his home town, Darwin.
“My wife and I are very Australian and we are going to come a live in Sydney after my Dow Retirement,” Mr Liveris said.
He has be an advocate for government intervention to give local manufacturers better access to Australia’s low-cost energy reserves, including gas.
He is would like to see the Abbott Government create more flexible manufacturing policy that will see Australia making the most of it’s resources at home.
“Australia has an abundance of fuels but chooses not to use some of them to its own advantage,” he says.
“The free market is not how that works with things that are difficult to move around, such as gas.”
Currently Australia sell its gas reserves to the global export market and does not offer a cheaper rate to local companies.
Mr Liveris is also a proud Hellene and is the founder of The Hellenic Initiative, a group that is seeking to help Greece out of its economic woes by promoting investment and offering resources to the country.
In 2013, the Initiative donated $1 million to five non-profit organizations in Greece offering support.
Source: Australian Financial Review