Mathias Cormann

Mathias Hubert Paul Cormann (born 20 September 1970) is a Belgian-born Australian politician and diplomat who currently serves as Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), having assumed the office on 1 June 2021.

Cormann was born on 20 September 1970 in Eupen, Belgium, within the country's German-speaking Community.

He is the oldest of four children and only son born to Hildegard and Herbert Cormann.

Cormann grew up in the village of Raeren, around 5 km from the Belgian-German border.

At the time of his birth, his father worked as a turner at a factory in Germany.

When he was ten years old, his father spent six months in hospital with a severe illness that left him unable to work; he subsequently became an alcoholic but recovered.

The family relied on a disability pension and assistance from the local Catholic church, where Cormann served as an altar boy.

After beginning his education locally, Cormann completed his secondary schooling in Liège, where he learnt French as a second language.

He went on to the University of Namur, where he attained the degree of candidate in law.

In 1989, he and some university friends drove to Berlin to witness the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

He has cited his experiences of the systems used in East and West Germany as influential in his political development.

Cormann later undertook law graduate studies at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, attaining the degree of licentiate and learning Dutch.

He learned English as a fourth language in 1993 while on an Erasmus Programme exchange to the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England.

Cormann's parents were not politically active.

He nonetheless joined the German-speaking Christian Social Party (CSP) at a young age and was elected to Raeren's municipal council at the age of 21.

He later worked in Brussels as an assistant to Mathieu Grosch, who represented Belgium's German-speaking electoral college in the European Parliament.

He first came to Australia in June 1994 to visit her family in Perth.

Their relationship did not continue, but after returning to Belgium to complete his studies he decided to move to Australia permanently.

In 1995, he was associated with Joëlle Milquet's campaign for the presidency of the French-speaking Christian Social Party (PSC).

During his time studying in England, Cormann began a relationship with an Australian woman.

He settled in Perth in July 1996, aged 25, initially working as a gardener at Presbyterian Ladies' College as his Belgian law degrees were not recognised.

Cormann then cold-called Senator Chris Ellison, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on treaties, and asked to work in his office as a volunteer.

After two weeks he secured a paid position as a staffer.

Through Ellison, Cormann began to develop connections in the Liberal Party of Australia (Western Australian Division).

From 1997 to 2000 he worked as chief of staff to Rhonda Parker, the state minister for family and children's services.

He later worked as senior adviser to Premier Richard Court (2000–2001) before returning to work for Ellison after his appointment as federal justice minister.

Cormann was elected to the Liberal Party's state council in 2000.

He served as a vice-president of the party from 2003 to 2004 and as senior vice-president from 2004 to 2008.

In 2003, Cormann joined HBF as health services manager in its health insurance division.

He was general manager of its Healthguard division from 2004 to 2006 before rejoining the health insurance division as acting general manager from 2006 to 2007.

Cormann's preselection for the coveted third position on the Liberal Senate ticket for the 2007 election was all but assured, at the expense of controversial Senator Ross Lightfoot, who withdrew from the preselection race and resigned from politics when he realised the numbers were against him.

On the ABC's Stateline program on 27 April 2007, Lightfoot stated that he considered Cormann (although he stopped short of naming him) an "inappropriate person" to replace him.

Previously, he was Australian Minister for Finance from 2013 to 2020 and a Senator from Western Australia for the Liberal Party from 2007 to 2020.

His tenure of more than seven years as Minister for Finance was the longest in Australian history, spanning the Abbott, Turnbull, and Morrison governments.

He also served as Special Minister of State from 2015 to 2016, 2017 to 2018 and 2019 to 2020, and as Minister for the Public Service from 2018 to 2019.

As Leader of the Government in the Senate, Cormann was also the Vice-President of the Executive Council.

On 20 December 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull promoted Cormann to be Leader of the Government in the Senate.

Cormann retired from politics in October 2020 in order to be nominated by Prime Minister Scott Morrison as Australia's candidate for Secretary-General of the OECD.

On 12 March 2021, he was elected as the next OECD Secretary-General, winning support from a majority of OECD Member States.

He is the first Australian elected to this position.