How the boyfriend of Australia's most famous ABC News TV presenter now controls a $300 BILLION fund
- Greg Combet becomes chairman of the Future Fund
- He is Juanita Phillips' boyfriend
The boyfriend of a former ABC-TV newscaster will soon take charge of a $300 billion Australian government wealth fund.
Greg Combet, who was a minister under Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard from 2010 to 2013, has been appointed the new chairman of the Future Fund.
Mr Combet, the partner of former Sydney ABC-TV newsreader Juanita Phillips, will replace former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello, who set up the fund in 2006 to finance the public service's pension obligations.
The Future Fund now manages $272 billion in assets, including Labour's $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which is charged with building 10,000 social and affordable homes over five years.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced on Monday that Mr Combet would take over as chairman of the Future Fund's board of guardians in mid-2024.
“Mr Combet has an impressive career and extensive experience in investments and pensions, government and climate and energy transformation,” he said.
Power couple: The boyfriend of a former ABC-TV newscaster will soon be in charge of a $300 billion Australian government wealth fund (Greg Combet is pictured at right with Juanita Phillips in 2014)
“His appointment will bring deep, diverse experience and new leadership to the Future Fund.”
Mr Combet and Phillips started dating in 2012 when he was a minister and she was the 7pm newsreader on ABC television in Sydney.
He divorced his wife Petra Hilsen while she left her husband Mario Milostic.
Phillips released her final bulletin in September, signing off for the final time after 21 years, surpassing the 19-year run of her predecessor Richard Morecroft.
She had previously been a Ten newsreader in Brisbane and Sydney in the 1990s and joined the ABC in 2002, initially as co-host with Tony Eastley, after several years abroad for CNN International and BBC World News had worked.
Mr Combet was secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions before being parachuted into a safe Labor seat in Newcastle in 2007.
This was after he led the campaign against the then coalition government's hated WorkChoices laws, which forced new workers into individual contracts without a no-risk test.
He became parliamentary secretary under new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced that Mr Combet would take over as chairman in mid-2024
He was promoted to Cabinet with the climate change portfolio in September 2010 after Ms Gillard formed a minority government with the Greens.
Since leaving politics in 2013, he has served on several boards, including the National Coordination Committee for COVID-19 under the previous coalition government.
He is now chair of the Net Zero Economy Agency, and was chairman of IFM Investors and trustee of AustralianSuper and Superannuation Trust of Australia.