It’s hard to make a great deal of money. It is even harder to spend it very wisely.
Some time ago Andrew Forrest became one of our most significant entrepreneurs, now he is becoming one of our greatest philanthropists and I salute him on both counts.
You only make a fortune by providing a service to people.
Andrew Forrest is serving our country twice.
First, he is building the mines of which our country’s prosperity and our people’s livelihoods depend and second, he is investing his share of the proceeds not in his life but in that of others.
This University, indigenous employment and in combatting modern day slavery to name only the most prominent of his many causes.
He is a living, breathing embodiment of the parable of the talents.
He is a credit to his family, including his famous forbear.
He is a tribute to this University which taught him economics.
He is not an academic, but the very soul of that restless curiosity and yearning of higher things which should define a university.
Not a Rhodes Scholar, but exactly the kind of person that Cecil Rhodes sought.
He is the epitome of that stern but just injunction to whom much is given, much is expected.
Of course, it is my understanding that in the Forrest household it is Andrew who makes the revenue decisions, but it is Nicola who makes the spending decisions.
So, it is really you, Nicola, that we have to thank for tonight’s extraordinary benefaction.
The two of you are a remarkable partnership and we all salute both of you.
Ladies and gentlemen, until recently Australia has had a comparatively thin culture of philanthropy but that is changing I am pleased to say.
There has been Kerry Stokes’ generosity to the War Memorial, the Packers’ to the Chang Institute, the Lowys’ to many good causes. There was Greg Poche who donated $30 million to the Mater Hospital in Sydney. There was Graham Tuckwell who donated $50 million to the Australian National University and now the Forrests’ donation to higher learning here in Western Australia.
One of the things that I have always admired about our most successful people is their fiercely competitive spirit.
Wouldn’t it be good to see our greatest magnates outbidding each other not to buy a bigger boat or to build a bigger mansion but to create a better future, to leave a better legacy for our country?
That way great individual wealth would seem less a personal benefit and more a national asset.
We wouldn’t just be a richer country, we would be a better country.
So, may there be many more nights like this to celebrate generosity on an epic scale and hearts as big as our country.
Thank you.
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