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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 and a master's degree in applied finance from FINSIA. He is married with three children.

Political career

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported 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.

On 10 September 2019 Rennick delivered his Maiden Speech, in which he compared Australia's immigration policy to farmers who "overstock 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 known as one of the climate "doubters" in the Morrison government, and has repeatedly accused the Australian government's Bureau of Meteorology of falsifying climate data. He accused the Bureau of Meteorology of tampering with climate data to "perpetuate global warming hysteria". On 12 November, 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". During Senate estimates, Rennick questioned the BOM 80 times over weather matters. Specifically Rennick noted the Bureau had not followed the advice of the 2011 independent peer review recommending that it's ACORN weather stations each use 3 thermometers to reduce margin of error in its observations. Rennick also queried the destruction of records by the Bureau, as well as ignoring differences surrounding Stevenson screen sizes, a lack of parallel runs and a lack of commitment to scientific accuracy.

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 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.

References

1. "SA, WA and Qld Senate teams are finalised". NewsComAu. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
2. "Gerard Rennick". Liberal Party of Australia. 6 March 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
3. ^ corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Senator Gerard Rennick". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 11 September 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
4. "ParlInfo - FIRST SPEECH". parlinfo.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
5. ^ Conifer, political reporter Dan (24 April 2019). "Controversial candidate won spot on Senate ticket after 12-month cash splash". ABC News. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
6. Remeikis, Amy (10 September 2019). "LNP senator compares immigration to 'over stocking' paddocks – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
7. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/lnp-senator-says-australia-s-immigration-policies-like-over-stocking-paddocks
8. "LNP senator says Australia's immigration policies like 'over stocking' paddocks". SBS News. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
9. corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Treasury Laws Amendment (Prohibiting Energy Market Misconduct) Bill 2019". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 29 November 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
10. corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Hansard Display". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 29 November 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
11. corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Hansard Display". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 29 November 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
12. "'There is no link': the climate doubters within Scott Morrison's government". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
13. "Liberal senator doubles down on accusing BoM of changing records to fit climate agenda". SBS News. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
14. corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Hansard Display". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 29 November 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
15. Coughlan, Matt (13 November 2019). "Lib senator says superannuation a 'cancer'". Guardian News. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
16. Conifer, political reporter Dan (22 April 2019). "Meet the Coalition candidate with controversial views on company tax, early education and Russia". ABC News. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
17. "Senator Gerard Rennick". 2GB. 13 September 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.

• Climate change denial
• Liberal National Party of Queensland politicians
• Living people
• 1970 births