38 Facts About Mathias Cormann

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

Mathias Cormann 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.

Mathias 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.

Mathias Cormann is the first Australian elected to this position.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mathias Cormann 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.

Mathias 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.

Mathias Cormann later worked as senior adviser to Premier Richard Court before returning to work for Ellison after his appointment as federal justice minister.

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

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

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

Mathias Cormann 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.

When Senator Ian Campbell unexpectedly announced his planned resignation on 4 May 2007, Mathias Cormann was quickly preselected by the party to fill the resulting casual vacancy.

Mathias Cormann was sworn in on 20 June 2007 and served the remaining four years of Ian Campbell's term until 2011.

On 21 August 2010 Mathias Cormann was re-elected for a further six-year term as Senator for Western Australia and again on 2 July 2016.

In Opposition, Mathias Cormann served as Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health Administration, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Apprenticeships and Training and as Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation.

Mathias Cormann fulfilled this role for several days in February 2018, during a unique set of circumstances in which Prime Minister Turnbull made a state visit to the United States, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce took personal leave amid scandal surrounding an affair with a staffer, and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party Julie Bishop made official visits to Europe in her role as Foreign Minister.

Mathias Cormann played a key role during the Liberal Party leadership spills in August 2018.

In October 2019, Mathias Cormann became the longest-serving Finance Minister, having surpassed the record previously held by Nick Minchin.

In early October 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Mathias Cormann would be nominated as a candidate for the next Secretary-General of the OECD.

On 2 November 2020, Mathias Cormann was officially nominated as a candidate for the next Secretary-General of the OECD.

Mathias Cormann formally resigned from the Senate a week later on 6 November 2020, with his resignation triggering a casual vacancy in the Senate.

Mathias Cormann's nomination was supported both by the Liberal government and federal Labor, while the Labor Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan provided a reference for Cormann's nomination.

On 12 March 2021, Mathias Cormann was elected as the next Secretary-General of the OECD, and he assumed office on 1 June 2021.

On 28 February 2023, Mathias Cormann visited Ukraine and met with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Mathias Cormann became an Australian citizen on Australia Day in 2000, which resulted in the automatic loss of his Belgian citizenship as per Belgian nationality law at the time.

In January 2018, Mathias Cormann was awarded with the rank of Grand Cross with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by Ambassador Anna Prinz on behalf of the Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier for his work "in advancing German-Australian relations".

In March 2021,29 Australian and global humanitarian and environmental organisations wrote to the OECD, citing "grave concerns" and asking that Mathias Cormann be disqualified due to his record of "thwarting effective climate action".