The mining magnate Andrew Forrest has unveiled one of Australia’s largest philanthropic donations to fund a variety of social and scientific causes.
Forrest and his wife Nicola confirmed they would give away $400m in a donation described by Malcolm Turnbull on Monday morning as a “game-changer in the Australian philanthropic community”.
The prime minister, flanked by Forrest at a function in Canberra, said the $400m donation would fund a range of causes.
Turnbull said $75m would go towards coordinating world cancer institutes, $50m for building stronger communities, $75m for higher education and research, $75m towards “giving every child their best chance”, $50m towards creating equality of opportunity, and $75m towards removing modern slavery from human history.
Turnbull said the power of philanthropy to change lives was “perhaps greater than that of government, because it comes with the love of the philanthropist, a love of mankind”.
The prime minister said the Greek for philanthropy was “an act of love”.
“It is an act of generosity. Above all, it is an act of leadership that will inspire other Australians, now and in the years to come, to show their love by helping those who we can support and we can advance through that commitment of love for mankind.”
Forrest said on Monday morning he had been “very fortunate, with my wife, Nicola, to be able to accumulate [wealth] and then as soon as we can to commence giving it away”.
He thanked Turnbull for “using the word love with such alacrity and passion.” Forrest said he didn’t hear the word love often in business, and he said he suspected the word wasn’t often used in politics either.
In a radio interview on Monday morning Forrest recalled his first public donation after years of secretive pledges.
“The immediate response was that’s been done for tax and it had nothing to do with tax,” he said.
It’s not the first time the Forrest family has made a major philanthropic donation.
The 55-year-old and his wife Nicola established the Minderoo Foundation in 2001, with the ethos that “by giving a hand up, not a hand out, we can empower communities”.
Minderoo has supported more than 250 initiatives both within Australia and internationally, including fighting modern slavery. The foundation has also promoted the use of the cashless welfare card, which Forrest initiated.
The Forrests and daughter Grace founded the Walk Free Foundation in 2012, which aims to end slavery.
Forrest built his fortune in mining after founding Anaconda Nickel, now known as Minara Resources, in 1994, before founding Fortescue Metals Group in 2003, the world’s fourth largest and Australia’s third-largest iron ore miner behind BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
He is now chairman of Fortescue, having stepped down as chief executive in 2011 to focus on philanthropic work.
He was Western Australia’s finalist for Australian of the Year this year.
