Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation appoints first Indigenous director

Brian McGuire has advised Perth’s arts festivals, theatres and governments. Now he joins the Fortescue billionaire’s philanthropic organisation.

New Minderoo board member Barry McGuire. Picture: Emma Dolzadelli

Balladong Noongar man Barry McGuire is the first Indigenous Australian to join the board of the Forrest family’s philanthropic Minderoo Foundation.

Mr McGuire is a Perth-based entrepreneur, acclaimed visual artist and a cultural ambassador and educator. He joins billionaire co-chairs Andrew and Nicola Forrest and their daughter Grace Forrest on the board of Minderoo.

The organisation has invested an estimated $2.6bn on 11 key initiatives including Generation One which aims to end disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation. The work of Generation One – led by chief executive Shelley Cable – is inspired by the Forrests’ 2014 Creating Parity report that recommended intensive support for Indigenous mothers and babies from pregnancy to three years of age. The 244-page report also recommended a largely cashless welfare system. A cashless debit card for welfare recipients was subsequently trialled by the Coalition and is to be abolished under Labor.

Mr McGuire has worked as a consultant for state and federal governments and is chairman of mine safety equipment company Spear Group Holdings. He is also patron of Fremantle Press, publisher of Tim Winton, and a cultural adviser to the Indigenous Emerging Business Forum, established to support Aboriginal-owned businesses make the most of technology. The Balladong Noongar people are from southwest Western Australia.

Dr Forrest and Mrs Forrest said they “admired and worked with Barry for a very long time and we are thrilled that he has chosen to take up our offer to join the board of Minderoo Foundation”. “Barry will provide his unique wisdom and expertise across our important work nationally and internationally,” the family said in a statement.

Mr McGuire said he was excited by the depth and breadth of the issues tackled by Minderoo Foundation and inspired by Minderoo’s Indigenous employment pillar Generation One.

“Andrew and Nicola Forrest have never shied away from tackling the hard issues,” Mr McGuire said. “I’m humbled by this appointment and eager to join their cause, and the cause of Minderoo Foundation’s partners around the globe, to arrest unfairness and create opportunities to better the world,” he added.

Mr McGuire’s experience with not-for-profits includes as a director of the Spear Foundation, which works with service organisations that operate in Perth’s Indigenous communities. Spear Foundation aims to improve cultural understanding.

Mr McGuire currently serves as an advisory board member of the Perth International Arts Festival and the Black Swan State Theatre Company of Western Australia. “These roles allow me to exercise my passion for sharing cultural understanding and safety across all nations of Australia, while contributing to local economic development across urban, regional and remote parts of our national community,” he said.

Minderoo Foundation’s senior executives include former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill, who leads the organisation’s Thrive by Five initiative.

Its work is based on research showing 90 per cent of brain growth occurs by the time a child turns five.