Gregory Hunt

Gregory Andrew Hunt (born 18 November 1965) is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Health since January 2017. He is a member of the Liberal Party and has served in the House of Representatives since November 2001, representing the Division of Flinders in Victoria. He has previously served as a parliamentary secretary in the Howard Government (2004–2007), Minister for the Environment (2013–2016), Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science (2016–2017), and Minister for Sport (2017).

Hunt was born in Melbourne. He was one of five sons born to Alan Hunt, who was a Liberal state government minister in the 1970s and 1980s. He attended the Peninsula School, and went on to Melbourne Law School where he won a prize for a final-year thesis he co-authored, titled A Tax to Make the Polluter Pay. Hunt was an associate to the Chief Justice of the Australian Federal Court in 1992, and subsequently attended Yale University as a Fulbright Scholar, where he obtained a Master of Arts in International Relations.

Beginning in 1994, Hunt served as a senior adviser to Alexander Downer, during both his periods as Leader of the Opposition (1994 to 1995) and Minister for Foreign Affairs (1995 to 1998). He then worked for McKinsey & Company from 1999 to 2001, and was also Director of Strategy at the World Economic Forum in Geneva from 2000 to 2001.

Early career

A member of the Liberal Party since 1994, Hunt was first elected to parliament at the 2001 federal election, replacing the retiring Peter Reith in the Division of Flinders. He was first elevated to the ministry following the 2004 federal election, when he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage. In January 2007, Hunt was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Following the Coalition's defeat at the 2007 election, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water. His title was altered to Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage after the 2010 election.

Government minister

After the 2013 federal election, Hunt was appointed Minister for the Environment in the Abbott Government. One of his first actions as minister was to inform Tim Flannery, the head of the Gillard government's Climate Commission, that the government was closing this body, as per its election platform. In December 2013, he announced a project to dredge Abbot Point, which was approved by the Marine Park Authority in January 2014. Following the change in Liberal Party leadership in September 2015, Hunt was retained as Minister for the Environment in the new Turnbull Government.

In February 2016, Hunt was named "Best Minister in the World" by a panel established by Thomson Reuters for the 2016 World Government Summit of Dubai.

With the reelection of the Turnbull Government in 2016, Hunt became the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science in the Second Turnbull Ministry.

Following the resignation of Sussan Ley as Health Minister, Turnbull appointed Hunt as the Minister for Health and the Minister for Sport.

During the Liberal leadership crisis in August 2018, Hunt tendered his resignation as health minister. However, it was not formally accepted and he retained the position in the Morrison Government several days later. Hunt stood for the deputy leadership of the party, polling 16 votes out of 82 (20 percent) compared with 46 for Josh Frydenberg and 20 for Steven Ciobo; there were three abstentions.

Controversy

In June 2017 Hunt, Michael Sukkar and Alan Tudge faced the possibility of being prosecuted for contempt of court after they made public statements criticising the sentencing decisions of two senior judges while the government was awaiting their ruling on a related appeal. They avoided prosecution by, eventually, making an unconditional apology to the Victorian Court of Appeal.

Hunt is married and has a daughter and a son. His father, Alan Hunt, was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council between 1961 and 1992.