Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore on Andrew Forrest at Leadership Matters conference

Everyone has an opinion on Andrew Forrest.

Enigma.

Eccentric.

Electric.

Andrew Forrest might leave some people scratching their head.

But he never leaves anyone in doubt about his passion.

This is a man always on the move.

On a mission.

A modern day messiah to some.

Like every preacher, he is surrounded by devoted followers, and hounded by determined critics.

Unconventional, charismatic and contagious.

Andrew Forrest is also fond of a fight.

He joins us here this morning at The West’s Leadership Matters forum in the middle of a federal election in which we have two leaders who so far have failed to capture the imagination of Australians.

In many ways our political leaders are everything Andrew Forrest is not.

Soul-crushingly safe, insipid, inward-looking, uninspired and uninspiring.

In short: Boring.

Not bold. Not brave.

And unable to create a narrative for our country.

Incapable of designing a future that will comfort the conservative-minded among us, embolden the dreamers … and clear a path for the doers.

As a nation, we are more than just a little bit stuck.

Modern political practitioners have become short-sighted fear-mongers and manipulators

We see this every day of this election campaign.

Absent are the visionaries who can sway a crowd with lyrics.

Instead of visionaries, we have validators who would rather cower a crowd with lies than communicate, convince, corral and create.

Those outside politics who are willing to take risks are too often stymied by the maddening mediocrity of our political class and hounded by the handbrake of bureaucratic skullduggery.

The power behind our pliable politicians - unelected, undeniable and unaccountable bureaucrats are flourishing under weak political leadership.

And otherwise strong and thoughtful leaders in business, academia, the law… our captains of industry and our cultural champions are distracted and bedevilled, finding comfort in conformity, consumed by formality and captured by fashion, stripped of colour and character.

And then we have Andrew Forrest.

Frenetic, fearless and unafraid of failure.

Powered by conviction and not cowered by cretins.

Andrew Forrest does - and hopefully will today - infuriate and exasperate.

But imagine an Australia without the entrepreneurs like him … willing to risk a lot to achieve a lot.

Agents of change … battling the arrogance of convention.

The leaders prepared to have a crack … and cop the odd whack.

We are delighted that Andrew Forrest agreed to deliver the first non-political Leadership Matters address of 2025

With more than 1000 people in the room this morning, this is also the biggest Leadership Matters we have had for some time.

And will surely be the most talked about …

As most of you here today will recognise, The West’s Leadership Matters series is truly unique.

Prime Ministers, premiers, billionaires, the bright, the brave, and the brilliant have all stood on this stage to take us on their journey … and hopefully liberate us from the lethargy of leadership.

Having said that we have had the odd battler up here too.

Unrelated …

Peter Dutton will be here tomorrow.

And Anthony Albanese will join us here the week after.

Both pitching hard for our votes … and promising a big dose of more of the same.

I should also note that Josh Frydenberg, no stranger to this stage, who is also here with us this morning, will take to this stage later this month to stand up as a community leader to demand more of us in the fight against the antisemitism and hatred that has so insidiously crept back into the suburbs we live in.

Even here in peaceful Perth … as we were reminded of just yesterday.

But today, we have Andrew Forrest.

Strap yourself in for a wild morning. The election. China. Trump. The Pilbara. Perth.

Green iron and Green envy.

Who knows what we will get. … Enjoy

And don’t forget to pick up the paper tomorrow to see your picture in it.