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Alex Charlwood
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Michael Baume AO

Special Counsel

Michael Baume was a member of the House of Representatives from 1975-83, the last year of which he was Parliamentary Secretary to then Treasurer (now Prime Minister) John Howard. He was also Senior Adviser to Mr Howard before being elected to the Senate in 1984. He later served as Australian Consul General in New York from 1996-2001.

As a Senator, Michael occupied many senior roles including Shadow Minister for the Arts, Heritage, Sport and Youth Affairs, Shadow Minister for Health, and Secretary to Shadow Cabinet. He was a member of many parliamentary delegations and represented Australia at the United Nations General Assembly. He was also a foundation member of the Australia-US Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Before entering Parliament, having graduated from Sydney University, Michael was a finance journalist, music reviewer, author, radio commentator, television panelist, stockbroker and director of two listed public companies. His journalistic roles included Finance Editor of The Bulletin, Investment Editor of The Australian Financial Review and Finance Editor of The Observer magazine. He created the ABC radio program The Week in Business and was a TV commentator on finance. He was also the Daily Telegraph's music reviewer. Michael is now a regular columnist for The Australian Financial Review, having recently completed a term as a member of the Superannuation Review Tribunal.

Michael has been widely involved in the Arts. He was a governor of the Australian National Gallery Foundation and of the Canberra City Opera, for whom he has appeared as a lead in Gilbert and Sullivan. He is a Council Member of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and formerly of Musica Viva.

His 1967 book The Sydney Opera House Affair is still the prime source of background of the controversy surrounding the creation of the Sydney icon. In addition, he has written chapters for other books including Len Evans' reference book on Australian wine. During his time as Consul General, Michael built strong personal relations in New York's financial, business and cultural circles. He was elected President of the Society of Foreign Consuls in New York for 1999-2000.

He was named an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1999 for service to the arts and the development of cultural life in Australia and internationally, to the Australian Parliament and to the financial services industry. He shares with the Prime Minister the honour of being the only Australian to have been awarded the medal of the US Foreign Policy Association for services to the US-Australia alliance.