Darwin-born businessman Andrew Liveris is our man in The White House
DARWIN-born businessman Andrew Liveris has just been chosen by US President-elect Donald Trump to make America great again. How did a Territory boy make it to The White House? ASHLEY MANICAROS reports
Business
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THE world sat up when Time Magazine’s “President of the Divided States” announced an Australian would “help make America great again”.
Suddenly the political slogan we’d all heard would be brought to life by a man whose world view was shaped in the frontier town of Darwin, famed for its cultural diversity, can-do attitude and crocodiles.
Trump made the announcement with lips pursed, his trademark forefinger pointed, then curling to touch his thumb, remaining fingers extending as he spoke glowingly of the dual US-Australian citizen. He welcomed Andrew Liveris on stage during a rally in Battle Creek, Michigan.
“He’s been the chairman of Dow Chemical for 13 years,” Trump said. “One of the truly great companies and it is based right here in Michigan. He’s proud of Michigan.
“He’s also a fantastic family man ... Someone committed to returning jobs to the United States of America.
“His name is Andrew Liveris, one of the most respected businessmen in the world. And I am asking him to come up and head up the American Manufacturing Council — and he’s agreed to do it.
“They will be tasked with finding ways to bring industry back to America. Industry and manufacturing back to America. No one can do it like Andrew ... so Andrew please come up to the stage.”
Trump warmly embraced the man he was welcoming into his inner sanctum, a cabinet filled with billionaires.
In accepting, Liveris was equally as lavish: “Doesn’t the President-elect sing music? It’s music. It’s K-Rock. It’s Detroit music. It’s Michigan music. It’s American music.
“You’re paving the way … with your policies to make it easier to do business in this country — not a red-tape country, but a red-carpet country for American businesses.”
The 62-year-old has come a long way from playing basketball with his mates on the Darwin High School courts at Bullocky Point.
“People mostly don’t know Darwin’s location until I point it out,” Liveris told the NT News soon after his US appointment. “I’m proud to talk about where I come from because I believe it shaped my world view. Community, diversity, get things done.
“It’s often best to say something like ‘It’s Crocodile Dundee territory’. Those that know quickly reflect that it’s frontier territory. The outback. The Australia they identify with.”
Liveris grew up in McLachlan St with sisters Maria and Despina. Next door was namesake cousin Andrew, who fielded the majority of the local media calls this week after Trump’s big announcement. The pair not just relatives, but friends.
It is testament to the genuine connection Liveris has with Darwin, despite the lofty corridors of power he walks in.
Liveris’s dad Nick, like the heads of many original Greek-Darwin families, was a building pioneer. The family came from the tiny island of Kastellorizo in the Dodecanese group, along with others such as the Paspaleys.
Nick died aged just 52 and Uncle Les became guidance councillor and role model for a young Andrew.
“Growing up in McLachlan Street, opposite the old town hall and near the Roman Catholic church, it felt like growing up in a small village,” Liveris recalls. “Walking to town to go to the open air Star Theatre with my cousins, who are still in Darwin ... Andrew, Christo Phillipou, Johnny Christadoulo ... and my mates Neil Philip, Hank MacPhee, Goldie Tybell, Doug Chan, Keith Nickels, Adrian Chan ... playing basketball ... or footy — I played for Waratahs — at the Gardens Oval.
“I lived and played in a very small area. Going to school at Darwin Primary and Darwin High with a mixture of ethnicities and cultures, enjoying foods from satay to salty plums and malted milkshakes. Sights, smells, tastes that stay with me to the present day.”
Liveris had expressed an interest in becoming a teacher. It was Les who convinced him to pursue chemical engineering when the family, including the children of his late brother, moved to Brisbane.
Liveris’s public education continued at Brisbane State High School and the University of Queensland. This week Queensland had a crack at claiming Liveris as their own, but the influence of Darwin is never far away and it was Darwin High School he donated $500,000 to a few years ago as Chairman of Dow Chemical.
“I keep up with (local) news through my cousins and my mates, who I get to see and who I hear from by email,” Liveris said. In earlier interviews he said this helped keep his feet on the ground.
“Darwin was a great place to grow up in — its smallness, its diverse population, its can-do attitude. These are traits that have helped me enormously in my career,” he said.
“It has kept my feet on the ground, it has allowed me to get the job done first, and let the record speak for itself.
“It allowed me to develop relationships and earn the trust and respect of the people you do business with, no matter where they are from and what their background or culture is. Building relationships requires sensitivity and patience, but it is absolutely essential for success.
“These are skills I use every day — whether I’m talking with a joint venture customer in the Middle East, negotiating with a major customer in the US, or building relationships with a senior government official in China.
“Even though I live in the US, I am a proud and passionate Australian and have never let myself forget where I am from — Darwin.”
Trump chose Liveris to fulfil his lofty political slogan because of his place in the world as the head of Dow Chemical. Dow is a leader in science and technology, providing chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services. Since Liveris took over in 2004 sales have grown to more than US$58 billion.
Australia and the Northern Territory now have a genuine advocate sitting at the most influential table in the world and Liveris believes there is opportunity there for us.
“I’ve consistently and persistently said the NT needs to add value to its gas reserves and not just export the gas,” Liveris said — views he first expressed when becoming head of Dow more than 10 years ago.
“Adding value is a job and revenue creator, and needs an energy policy, which I’ve yet to see in any Australian state or territory.
“The NT is ideally located to serve Asia’s markets, but anything built to do that competes with global suppliers. So competitiveness is key. To compete on labour and capital is not doable, so we should compete on low-cost natural resources that we add value to.
“The fact of life is that Australia’s governments, over 30 years of trying, have not cracked the code on how to get the petrochemical industry, and companies like Dow, to invest here vs. alternative destinations, such as Canada, the Middle East, Malaysia, Argentina and elsewhere.
“Dow has huge investments in all of these countries. It pains me as a ‘true blue Aussie’ that we can’t make it happen in Australia ... Stay tuned, as there is much to do in all developed economies, the US, the UK, Europe and, of course, Australia and New Zealand.”
It is exciting the Territory has its own man in the White House as a powerful advocate.
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