Biography:Gerard Rennick

Short description: Australian politician

Senator Gerard Rennick
Senator for Queensland
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 July 2019
Personal details
Born	(1970-11-05) 5 November 1970 Chinchilla, Queensland
Citizenship	Australian
Political party	Liberal / LNP
Alma mater	University of Queensland / University of Sydney
Occupation	Politician
Website	www.gerardrennick.com.au

Gerard Rennick (born 5 November 1970) is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for Queensland since July 2019. He is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland and sits with the Liberal Party in federal parliament.

Early life

Gerard was born and raised on a property outside Chinchilla, on the Darling Downs. In his youth he worked as a farmhand, fruit picker, bartender and pump attendant.

He completed his education in Toowoomba at Downlands College, before moving to Brisbane where he completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Queensland. He also has a master's degree in Taxation Law from the University of Sydney. He is married with three children.

Prior to entering parliament, he worked for 25 years in the financial sector both domestically and abroad. He has a number of qualifications, including a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Queensland, a CPA, master's degrees in applied finance and taxation law and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Political career

It was revealed that Rennick donated $30,000 to the LNP in the year before winning the third slot on the Liberal senate ticket—a position that eventually saw him elected to a six-year term. He had never previously donated to the party.

On 10 September 2019 Rennick delivered his Maiden Speech, in which he compared Australia's immigration policy to farmers who "overstock [their] paddock", and also claimed that "the greatest threat to our environment is not carbon dioxide but unsustainable immigration". He also called for a reduction in foreign students, an end to the war in Iraq, expressed support for cutting immigration levels and called the sale of Darwin port "a classic case of ideology gone mad". In a wide ranging speech he also called for taxation reform, an end to regime change wars and the need for Australia to refocus on the Asia-Pacific. He also spoke about having a constitutional convention to clearly define and separate the responsibilities of the Federal and State Governments in the federation - "It is time for COAG to hold a constitutional convention to clearly define and separate these responsibilities with proposed changes put to a referendum.”

During a speech on the Prohibiting Energy Market Misconduct Bill, he referred to Queensland Labor Senator Murray Watt as Labor's "chief yapping poodle." Watt was previously a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland during the Bligh Government and supported her privatisation agenda - of which Rennick is staunchly critical.

Positions

Climate

Rennick is a prominent climate change denier within the LNP.

He has accused the Bureau of Meteorology of tampering with climate data to "perpetuate global warming hysteria". On November 12, during the 2019 New South Wales bushfires, Rennick claimed that the Bureau did not follow proper processes when recording statistical data. In that same interview, Rennick admitted he had not yet met with the BoM, claiming he would get to that "eventually".

Superannuation

On 13 November 2019 Rennick called superannuation a "cancer", stating in his speech; "Millions of dollars gets sucked out of the pockets of the battlers in the bush and sent to the blowhards in Sydney and Melbourne to manage, all for a small cost of around $37 billion a year in management fees." He said union-linked industry super funds were "laughing all the way to the bank" while no money was reinvested in regional areas. In the same speech he accused the Labor party of selling regional Australia "down the toilet" during the Hawke-Keating era through their globalist, privatisation agenda - selling off such government owned corporations as Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "Now regional Australia has to pay more for flying regionally than it costs to fly overseas...The CBA, like every other bank in this country, became obsessed with housing rather than driving business and investment, especially in the regions."

Childcare

He called Labor's policy of providing free childcare to all 3 year olds in Australia part of a plan to have the state take over a large portion of child rearing at the expense of the parents.

Foreign relations

Rennick has advocated for closer ties with Putin led Russia because "they're part of the West; they drink, they're Christians, they play soccer, they're Caucasian". He further raised questions about the role Russia played in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, even though the international consensus was that it was ordered by Putin.

Other positions

Rennick has been a long term advocate for reforming the federation; government building and retaining profit making infrastructure such as dams, ports and electricity power plants; sustainable immigration to ensure quality of life for all Australians; higher taxes on profits sent offshore; and he has called on universities to underwrite the costs of education.