MEDIA & PR POSITION. No.2164

J.E. MINER APPLICATION re UoN POSITION No. 2164

 

 

 

26/03/13

John Miner summary c.v.

PERSONAL	John Ellis Miner, B.A., M. Litt
	PO Box 88, Charlestown NSW 2290 86 Bailey St, Adamstown NSW 2289
	mobile	0409 56 46 37
	e-mail	[email protected]
	alternative e-mail	[email protected]
	Australian citizen (Born Waratah, NSW 31/01/1956)
	Memberships & Affiliations
	MEAA	Member  since 1977
	Australian Labor Party	Member since 1985
	The Newcastle Institute	Foundation member
	Educational attainment
EDU	University of New England (Aust)1997 Master of Letters (Distinction)
	University of Sydney: B.A. (English & Legal Studies) 1977
	Securities Insitute of Australia: Certificate III (Distinction)
	Work history
PUBLIC RELATIONS	1996-2007 - present
	2007-08 MANAGER, GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, RIO TINTO COAL AUST
	2008-present: clients have included…
	Westfield Pty Ltd		Maitland Mutual
	Telstra Corporation		Orica Ltd
	Bank of Melbourne		Scorpion International Freight
	Westpac Banking Corporation		National Power Australia
	VISA international		Endeavour Consulting Group
	Key Insights Pty Ltd		Honeysuckle Development Corporation
FED POLITICS	1994-96 MEDIA ADVISER: MINISTER FOR EDUCATION & TRAINING
	1994 SENIOR ADVISER: PRIME MINISTER
	1992-94 MEDIA ADVISER: PRIME MINISTER
PR	1990-92 DIRECTOR, INFORMATION & PUBLIC RELATIONS  UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
STATE POLITICS	1988-90: PRESS SECRETARY		PREMIER'S OFFICE, VICTORIA
	SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES		MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT & PLANNING (TOM ROPER)
			MINISTER FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS (TOM ROPER)
			MINISTER FOR ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS (TOM ROPER)
			MINISTER FOR SPORT & RECREATION (NEIL TREZISE)
	1987-88: OFFICER-IN-CHARGE MINISTERIAL MEDIA UNIT		PREMIER'S OFFICE, NSW
	SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES		DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY, PREMIER
			CO-ORDINATE PRESS SECRETARIES
			COMMUNITY LANGUAGE MEDIA; REGIONAL MEDIA
	1986-87: PRESS SECRETARY		NSW MINISTER FOR SPORT, RECREATION & TOURISM
METRO DAILY JOURNALISM	1984-86: STATE POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT(NSW), AUSTRALIAN
	1977-84: JOURNALIST, SMH
	1984		Editor, the (TV) Guide
	1983		Chef de bureau, MELBOURNE
	1981-82		NSW political reporter
	1980		QUEENSLAND Correspondent
	1979		Newcastle (NSW) bureau
	1978		NSW political reporter
	1977-78		Cadet journalist

 

The Hon. D.W. Simmons: Statement in support of application by Mr John Miner

I met John Miner when I was Member for Calare – the area around Bathurst- in the Federal Parliament.  John worked as a media adviser in highest-ranked office in politics: the Prime Minister’s Office. His experience was already wide.  He had been a journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald for more than seven years; been a media adviser in the Wran government in NSW; worked in a similar position in John Cain’s office when Cain was Premier of Victoria.

In Melbourne, he met Don Watson and they became friends.  He left Melbourne for personal reasons, hoping to find a position in his home town, Newcastle.  He was selected to be Director of Information and Public Relations at the University of Newcastle.

Little more than a year later he was asked to come to Canberra – the same day.  He did, and after a 20-minute discussion with the new Prime Minister, Paul Keating, and some formalities was offered a position as Media Adviser to the Prime Minister. Later, he would become Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister – which means the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s office had agreed to his promotion to the Senior Executive Service of the Commonwealth.

John has been exposed to strategic and political thinkers of the highest level.  He is a creative strategist and analyst. A good example of his imaginative strategy was the creation of the Newcastle Institute. Disappointed with the standard of candidates for positions within the local ALP, John and a former colleague from Sydney University discussed options.  John proposed a public policy platform, based in Newcastle but regularly inviting speakers from outside, to challenge Newcastle to do better by providing the city with the tools to do it.

John put his plan to several former university colleagues, and the New Institute was formed. Margo Kingston, a renowned journalist in Canberra, was the inaugural speaker. The fact that the institute still meets once a month, ten months of the year, speaks volumes for  his astute reading of the desire among locals to be part of a wider community. 

His access to the people he needed for their various skills were a product of his long and varied work history. In Canberra, he was reunited with Don Watson. John was next in the line of speechwriters at the time, drafting speeches for innumerable occasions, but also learning from both Watson and Keating about the uses of language to persuade, and achieve, an objective. John believes in going elsewhere to learn different ideas so they can be brought back to advance the future of Newcastle and other regional centres. 

Reference Prepared in support of John Miner (Ellen Davis-Meehan, Key Insights)

 

I am very pleased to write a testament to the abilities and character of John Miner.

 

Key Insights is a socio-economic research and planning company that undertakes major projects locally, nationally and internationally.

 

Over the past 10 years John Miner has contributed to the success of our business both as a contracted analyst and as part of the project team where we have shared the same client.  John’s particular areas of expertise include, but are not limited to:

 

Deeply connected to the political and journalistic sectors particularly within the Australian context and especially within the Hunter region. I have witnessed many projects where John can get a foot in the door or a story covered faster and at a higher level than most other public relations experts.

 

Higher order thinking and analytical capabilities that have I have found to be beneficial in all stages of a project from methodology design through to implementation and evaluation. John is able to grasp complexities and hold an inordinate amount of knowledge at his fingertips which make his advice evidence based and rigorous.

 

High end public relations experience.

 

Demographic research and analytical skills.

 

John is an ethical professional that begins from a position of respect; respect for the client, the team, other professionals, the community and for the history of each situation.

 

John is an initiator as evidenced in his establishment of the Hunter Institute. He is truly a first class practitioner with an academic mind that would be an asset to any organisation.

 

Yours Sincerely,

Ellen Davis-Meehan

Director

April 16th