Hon Philip Gardiner MLC
Member for the Agricultural Region
About Philip
Philip Gardiner was raised on a family grain and sheep property at Moora, where he completed his primary education. Following secondary education at Guildford Grammar School, he graduated from the University of WA with a BSc(Ag) Honors.
Following a short period training and working for the Commonwealth Department of Trade and Industry in Canberra, he attended IMEDE, Lausanne, Switzerland (Harvard's European Business School at the time) having been awarded a Rotary Graduate Fellowship and where he completed an MBA.
Returning from Switzerland, Philip commenced a career in investment banking in Sydney with a Citicorp subsidiary, CitiNational which developed when he moved to Meares Michell Pty Limited and then Hill Samuel Limited and which finally evolved into Macquarie Bank Limited as Australia's financial system deregulated.
During this time, Philip married Jenny Swain, a Sydney girl who was also working at CitiNational. They have two sons, Charles (now married to Natasha), and James.
Philip became a senior member of Hill Samuel Australia's management team, and director of their main board, and was a founding director of Macquarie Bank Limited when it succeeded Hill Samuel in 1985. Meanwhile, he had been a Non Executive Director, and Chairman of The Sydney Futures Exchange Limited and a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia's Foreign Exchange Committee.
In 1988, Philip and his family moved to Moora, Western Australia to develop the property, "Edale” that they first purchased in 1981, located adjacent to the Gardiner family holding.
In his home district, Philip became a director of the Central Midlands Development Foundation in 1990 that was formed to assist giving a stake to district residents in the Pulp & Paper Mill Project that was being proposed at the time, the Foundation continues to play a role in the district. For Moora's centenary year in 1995, Philip was appointed Chairman of the Moora Centenary Celebrations Committee set up to organise the celebratory activities for the year. He was also vice president of the Moora Performing Arts Society, whose secretary, Jenny Gardiner, Philip's wife, with other committee members brought more than 25 different shows to the district from 1990 to 1995. Currently he is patron of the Moora Fine Arts Society. Further, in 1995, Philip joined as a Fellow of the Council of Guildford Grammar School, on which he served a term as Chairman 1998-2001.
Philip has an interest in export wheat marketing and the manufacture of biodiesel through BlueDiesel Pty Ltd. Philip believes that there are interesting opportunities in perennial grass and legume agriculture, and has entered a partnership in a property, Shoal Park, near Kalbarri.
Philip was The Nationals' candidate for O'Connor in the 2007 federal election. His breadth of knowledge of the Agricultural Region provides him with a sound basis to represent the electorate and their unique needs.
About the Agricultural Region
The Agricultural Region includes the Legislative Assembly electorates of Central Wheatbelt, Geraldton, Moore and Wagin.
Enrolment (26 February 2007) 82,479.