Twiggy (28 page)

What is next for Andrew Forrest? Still only in his early fifties, and with energy to burn, he will likely be a prominent figure in Australian public life for decades to come. Forrest has stepped down from day-to-day duties at Fortescue and handed the job to a management team that no longer needs a master promoter at the helm. He has thrown some of his money at a few promising
nickel and gold mining plays, though none will ever be as spectacularly successful as Fortescue. And he has embarked on a series of philanthropic ventures that are bigger and bolder than anything else undertaken in this country.

His most obvious career move would be politics. He is close to Tony Abbott and the two men have chatted informally about Forrest’s interest in joining the Liberal
Party and possibly entering federal parliament. Forrest has sounded out those close to him about whether he should go into politics. If he does put his hand up, few of his old friends and acquaintances would be surprised.

Mark Caruso, the man who sold Forrest the tenements that made him a multibillionaire, believes Forrest’s overwhelming motivation in life is restoring his family name to
greatness in public life, and being prime minister would be the ultimate way of achieving this. “He has both the influence and resources to become a significant politician,” says Caruso. “I honestly think he can be prime minister.”

Albert Wong, Forrest’s buddy from his Sydney deal-making days, is another who reckons he will aim for the prime ministership. “One day, I said to him, ‘You’ve
done it all now, you might as well be prime minister.’ He didn’t admit it to me, but I’m sure that has crossed his mind. Ultimately, Andrew is the type of guy that really wants to make his mark and leave a legacy.”

Warwick Grigor believes his old business partner is more likely to follow in the footsteps of Sir John Forrest and seek to become the premier of Western Australia. “He has a need
to do what his forefathers have done,” Grigor says. “I told him one day he would be premier of Western Australia and that was his overriding desire, and he looked at me and said, ‘How do you know that?’”

Others who know Forrest say he is fixated by how he will be remembered in fifty years’ time. “Twiggy won’t be happy with a bronze statue in Kings Park [like Sir John Forrest]. He’ll want
a gold one,” a colleague told the
Australian
.

One close friend reveals that Forrest is still trying to work out how to make a contribution to Australian public life, and this may include a career in politics. “But I think it would kill him – he would have to toe the party line,” the friend says. “He would want the red carpet treatment, but he could never go straight in as prime minister,
and I think he would only ever have aspirations to be prime minister.”

Whatever his aspirations, Forrest will seek to differentiate himself from the fumbled efforts of his fellow mining billionaires, Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer, in seeking to exert influence in Australian life. Only a handful of people were aware that Forrest, in 2011, rejected the major stake in publisher Fairfax Media
that Rinehart eventually bought, a move that signalled he had no desire to become a media mogul. And while Palmer created his own political party to contest the 2013 federal election, it’s unlikely even Forrest would see any advantage in such an ego-driven stunt.

Even if he decides against a shot at politics, Forrest is deftly positioning himself as a 21st-century statesman. At the high-level
Boao Forum for Asia conference in 2013, Forrest led the Australian delegation and hosted cocktail parties in his hotel suite for government and corporate leaders from Australia and China. Of all the delegates, he was the most passionate in arguing that Australia must work harder to boost its trade and investment links with a country that he insists will remain an economic powerhouse for decades.
Those present witnessed a businessman with the ability to schmooze the Chinese leadership better than anyone.

Yet there are still those who believe Forrest’s enduring belief in his own infallibility will ultimately prove to be his downfall. “In the final analysis he will fall victim to his own personality, which is to keep pushing and pushing and pushing,” warns Brian Burke, the former Western
Australian premier who worked closely with Forrest. “One day there will be something that
will
be impossible and Twiggy won’t recognise it.” Burke pauses and searches for an example. “I will never run 100 metres in ten seconds,” he says. “But if you told Twiggy, he’d say, ‘Let me have a few months’ training and I will do it.’ In the final analysis, that inability to accept that something is impossible
will cause him to fail.”

The great unanswered question of Forrest’s life is whether he is motivated more by money, power or the need for respect. The answer will, to a large extent, determine how he is remembered. Whatever happens, though, Forrest’s fortunes will continue to be governed by chance. If the Chinese economy suffers a serious jolt, his wealth and influence could shrivel up almost
overnight. Under this scenario, he would be left without much of a fortune to give away to charity. And if he does decide on a political career, he will have to rely on the vagaries of the party system, and the will of the people, to get to the top.

Forrest has never chosen the safe path. Driven by the legend of his pioneering ancestors, he continues to dream of conquests on a grand scale,
and he is desperate to prove his remaining doubters wrong. Of this we can be sure: the high-stakes life of Andrew Forrest has plenty more adventures ahead.

John Forrest’s 1869 expedition (left to right): Malcolm Hamersley, Tommy Windich and John Forrest, who was only twenty-one. Although the expedition failed to discover land for agricultural or pastoral use, Forrest’s compass was affected by the presence of minerals in what would become known throughout the world as the Goldfields. (State Library of Western Australia.)

Lady Forrest and Sir John Forrest in 1909, when he was federal treasurer. Forrest’s greatest disappointment in politics came when he failed to win the leadership of the Liberal Party – and most probably the prime ministership – by a single vote in 1913. (State Library of Western Australia.)

Andrew Forrest as a member of Christ Church’s 1973 prep school swimming team. He is in the middle row, fifth from the right. Forrest struggled at Christ Church and ended up finishing his secondary education at Hale School.

Forrest (back row, far right) became a prefect in his final year at Hale School in 1979. Also pictured are his close friends John Morrison (front row, far left) and Simon Lill (back row, fourth from left). Forrest credits headmaster Ken Tregonning (front row, centre) with helping to turn his life around.

Andrew Forrest and Jeff Braysich living the high life at Jacksons in 1987, a few months before the stockmarket crash of October that year. “You were either his best mate or worst enemy, and at various times I was both,” Braysich says of Twiggy. (The West Australian.)

Forrest chats to John Howard at the official opening of Anaconda Nickel’s Murrin Murrin nickel project in 1999. The plant was nowhere near fully operational and major technical problems would later force Twiggy out of the company and into exile. (Norm Bailey/News Corp Australia.)

Forrest in deep discussion about the Rudd government’s resource super-profits tax with the public servant who recommended it, Treasury boss Ken Henry. Twiggy labelled the RSPT “economic vandalism” and played a key role in the campaign to kill it. (Ray Strange/News Corp Australia.)