Julian Fletcher Grill (born 15 May 1940) is an Australian former politician. Grill was a member of the

Parliament of Western Australia The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia, which constitutes the legislative branch of the state's political system. The parl ...

between 1977 and 2001.

Early life and education

Grill was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and was brought up in

Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

, Collie and Subiaco. He attended Perth Modern School and the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws.

Legal career

Grill was admitted to the Western Australian Bar of the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1966. A partner of Henshaw, Wheeldon and Grill, Evans and Grill, and Grill Browne and Co, he specialised in mining and resources law.

Parliamentary career

Grill was elected as the Member for Yilgarn-Dundas in Western Australia's

Lower House A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

. Due to redistributions the seat changed a number of times, initially becoming Esperance-Dundas and eventually Eyre. He was re-elected in subsequent elections, and was promoted to the front bench in 1981. Grill became Minister for Transport in the First Burke Ministry in 1983. He later served in the Agriculture, Fisheries, the North West, Regional Development, Economic Development, Trade and Tourism portfolios. He retired from politics in 2001 and did not contest the 2001 election. As a politician, Grill commenced planning for metropolitan rail expansion and electrification, re-establishing the Perth to Fremantle rail service, led the legislative process to abolish capital punishment, led streamlining the rail freight services to cut out overmanning, initiated rail rejuvenation in the Perth metropolitan area, began the process of selling WA education in Asia, with colleagues conceived and instituted the Bunbury 2000 programme, executed the state's largest regional renewal project, wrote the energy policy adopted by the Gallop government, superintended the state's first substantial marine national parks and reserves, led conception and delivery of the Hillarys Boat Harbour development, was a member of the team that established the Dawesville Channel, led trade delegations to India, China and Hong Kong, secured substantial funding for community projects in Collie, discontinued the Fitzgerald National Park land release programme, facilitated the government's commitment to the Collie Power Station, facilitated the commitment of Griffin Coal to the Bluewaters Power Station, and helped convince Worsley (BHP) to embrace coal in its recent major expansions.

Post-parliamentary career

As a lobbyist Grill contributed directly to breaking the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

iron-ore duopoly ( BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto) helping to open the way for Fortescue Metals Group and others. He also helped secure compensation for victims of the mortgage brokers scandal in Western Australia and played a key role in advancing several major projects, many of which generated significant employment in Western Australia. In 2007 Grill was expelled from the Australian Labor Party over a donation he facilitated on behalf of a client to the Western Australian National Party during the 2004/05 financial year. Later in 2007, he was forced to publicly apologise to the Legislative Assembly for leaking a draft parliamentary committee report to Precious Metals Australia in 2006 after receiving it from longtime friend and former Labor minister John Bowler. The following year, he was ordered to apologise in writing to the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative A ...

for giving Burke documents from an inquiry into the iron ore industry. However, he refused to do so, putting him at risk of being jailed for contempt of parliament, though the Upper House ultimately opted against jailing him. Grill was investigated by the Corruption & Crime Commission of Western Australia and was charged. He was subsequently found not guilty of all charges. In 2014 Grill was involved in business providing specialist expertise in negotiation, business acquisitions, property development and general management. Grill has been chairman or a non-executive director of

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...

-listed companies Asia Oil and Minerals, Kalgoorlie Boulder Resources, Regal Resources, and Focus Resources. He was the principal of Julian Grill Consulting and is the principal of Julian Grill Advisory. His interests include agriculture, resources, civil rights and the Goldfields of Western Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grill, Julian 1940 births Living people Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People educated at Perth Modern School Politicians from Sydney People from Goldfields–Esperance University of Western Australia alumni Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia 21st-century Australian politicians