Ian Elgin Macfarlane (born 5 April 1955) is an Australian former politician who was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 1998 to 2016, representing the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. He served as a minister in the

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

and

Abbott government The Abbott government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 28th Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The government was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition. The Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, served ...

s. Macfarlane was born in

Kingaroy Kingaroy () is a rural town and suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. The town is situated on the Road Junction, junction of the D'Aguilar Highway, D'Aguilar and the Bunya Highway, Buny ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, and was a farmer before entering politics. He was elected to parliament at the 1998 federal election, representing the

Division of Groom The Division of Groom is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Groom is an Agriculture in Australia, agricultural electorate located on the Darling Downs in southern Queensland. I ...

. Macfarlane was appointed Minister for Small Business in January 2001. After the 2001 election, he was made Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, a position he held until the Howard government's defeat at the 2007 election. Macfarlane returned to cabinet in 2013 as Minister for Industry (later Industry and Science) in the Abbott government. He lost his position when

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...

became prime minister in September 2015, and retired from politics at the 2016 election. He is currently chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council.

Early life

Macfarlane was born in

, Queensland, and was a farmer and president of the Queensland Graingrowers Association before entering politics. He acquired the nickname "Chainsaw" from ABC rural reporter Judy Kennedy due to his raspy voice. He now attributes the moniker to his ability to "cut through red tape", and it was alluded to in his 1998 election campaign through the slogan "The Right Voice for Groom".

Politics

Macfarlane was elected to the

at the 1998 federal election, representing the

for the

. As a minister in the Coalition government under

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

he held the portfolio of Minister for Small Business from January 2001, before being promoted to the Cabinet role of Industry, Tourism and Resources in November 2001. After the defeat of the Coalition in the 2007 federal election he served in the shadow portfolios of Trade as well as Infrastructure and Water, and was the Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources. In an interview with ''Four Corners'' on 9 November 2009, Macfarlane said that his position on global warming had changed "a bit", since he had recognised a greater importance for mankind's contribution. Acting as Climate Change Spokesman for the Coalition in 2009, he spent 5 weeks in negotiations around a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme with Minister for Climate Change Penny Wong, before a

leadership spill In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply a spill) is a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (leader and deputy leader in ...

deposed party leader Malcolm Turnbull and replaced him with

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and was the member of parli ...

, and the policy was overturned. With the election of the Abbott

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

government in September 2013 he was appointed Minister for Industry. He was later sworn in as the

Minister for Industry and Science The Minister for Industry and Innovation is an Australian Government cabinet position which is currently held by Tim Ayres following his swearing-in on 13 May 2025 as a result of Anthony Albanese's Labor government being re-elected at the 2025 ...

on 23 December 2014. Upon the ascension of the

Turnbull government The Turnbull government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 29th prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, from 2015 to 2018. It succeeded the Abbott government, which brought the Coalition to power at the 2013 Au ...

in September 2015, he was dropped from the new ministry despite being a Turnbull supporter. On 3 December 2015, Macfarlane announced his intention to sit with the federal Nationals. He claimed that his experience representing regional interests was "second only to" retiring federal Nationals leader and fellow Queenslander

Warren Truss In structural engineering, a Warren truss or equilateral truss is a type of truss employing a weight-saving design based upon Triangle, equilateral triangles. It is named after the British engineer James Warren (engineer), James Warren, who pat ...

. Although local party members overwhelmingly supported Macfarlane's decision, the

Liberal National Party of Queensland The Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) is a major conservative political party in Queensland, Australia. It was formed in 2008 by a merger of the Queensland divisions of the Liberal Party and the National Party. In most other states ...

executive blocked the move. LNP officials said that even with the overwhelming support of LNP members in Macfarlane's seat, "the interests of our party beyond his electorate" required that Macfarlane stay in the Liberal party room. On 15 February 2016, Macfarlane announced he would retire from parliament and not contest the 2016 federal election.

Later career

In September 2016, it was announced that Macfarlane had been appointed chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council. Greens Senators Larissa Waters and

Lee Rhiannon Lee Rhiannon (formerly O'Gorman, ''née'' Brown; born 30 May 1951) is a former Australian politician who was a Australian Senate, Senator for New South Wales between July 2011 and August 2018. She was elected at the 2010 Australian federal ele ...

claimed that the appointment seemed to breach the current statement of ministerial standards, which requires that ex-ministers not engage in lobbying for an eighteen-month period after ceasing to be a minister. Macfarlane was also chairman of the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC), a position he held from May 2016 to the Centre's closure in 2022. In November 2016, Macfarlane was appointed to the board of directors of Australian oil and gas company Woodside Energy. Macfarlane's current directorship extends to the 2026 Annual General Meeting, at which he will be eligible for re-election. At Woodside Energy's 2023 AGM, 34.81% of shareholders voted against his reappointment, after institutional investors and the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility co-filed members' statements calling on directors to be held to account for the board's "repeated failure to present a credible climate strategy". Prior to that, no ASX100 energy director had ever received more than 15% of shareholder votes against their reappointment. For the 2023-2024 financial years, Macfarlane received A$657,920 in director's compensation from Woodside Energy. Despite retaining his position as Chief Executive of the Queensland Resources Council, in which he lobbied on behalf of some of Australia's largest carbon emitters, in late 2021 the

Morrison government The Morrison government was the Australian Government, federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the Liberal Party of Australia, between 2018 and 2022. The Morrison governmen ...

appointed Macfarlane to the board of the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

, Australia's lead science agency. As head of that Council, he authorised an ad campaign against the Queensland Government's coal royalty policy (calling it a "tax"), even though his former political party was happy with the policy. The campaign, extending over more than a year, cost over A$40m.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Macfarlane, Ian 1955 births Living people Abbott government Australian people of Scottish descent Liberal National Party of Queensland members of the Parliament of Australia Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Cabinet of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Groom People from Kingaroy People from Toowoomba 20th-century Australian farmers 21st-century Australian farmers Farmers from Queensland Australian MPs 1998–2001 Australian MPs 2001–2004 Australian MPs 2004–2007 Australian MPs 2007–2010 Australian MPs 2010–2013 Australian MPs 2013–2016