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Marcus Bastiaan

Marcus Bastiaan
Bastiaan in the 2020s
Personal details
BornMelbourne, Victoria
NationalityAustralian
Political partyLiberal Party
SpouseStephanie Bastiaan

Marcus Bastiaan (born 1990)[1] is an Australian businessman, industry advocate and political power broker.[2] He is a former vice-president of the Victorian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia and a current director of Forest and Wood Communities Australia.[3]

Early life

[edit]

Marcus Bastiaan was born in Victoria, Australia, and grew up on a farm on the Mornington Peninsula. He was educated at Peninsula Grammar and later Brighton Grammar School.[4]

Politics

[edit]

Bastiaan joined the Liberal Party in Victoria in 2010.[5] In 2012, he stood unsuccessfully for Bayside Council in Melbourne's inner south local government election. Bastiaan polled the third-highest primary among 16 candidates and lost on preferences.[6] Bastiaan later became chair of the party's Goldstein branch and Brighton branch.[7] Between 2015 and 2018 Bastiaan was elected to the Liberal Party's Administrative Committee and served as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Party's Membership and Training Committee.[8][9][10]He has been seen by some as a protégé of former Victorian state Liberal president Michael Kroger.

In 2017, Four Corners reported that the Kroger/Bastiaan group took control of the Liberal Victorian Administrative Committee.[11]

Bastiaan was elected metropolitan vice-president of the administrative committee in 2018,[3] but stepped down in the same year due to family illness.[3][12]

The Age newspaper reported leaked text messages allegedly from Bastiaan that used homophobic terms.[13] Bastiaan was cleared of “detrimental conduct” by a Liberal Party investigation.[14][15][16]

Bastiaan has been accused of branch stacking since 2015.[17][18]

In August 2020, allegations were made by Channel Nine's 60 Minutes and The Age that Bastiaan was involved in branch stacking activities.[19][20][21]Bastiaan rejected these allegations. He stated that his role as Chair of the Membership and Training Committee was to recruit and train members.[10][22]

Bastiaan was also accused of installing factional operatives in Michael Sukkar and Kevin Andrews' electorate offices.[23][24][25]

Bastiaan launched legal proceedings against Nine Entertainment (the owner of the Nine Network, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald) following the 60 Minutes program. Nine Entertainment settled a defamation lawsuit with Bastiaan, leading to the removal of dozens of articles and social media posts.[15][16]

Bastiaan was further cleared of any wrongdoing by the Liberal Party and no finding against Baastian were found by independent auditor Korda Mentha.[26][27]

Following Bastiaan’s legal win he appeared on Sky News with Cory Bernardi stating "until the Liberal Party in Victoria can work out how it's going to govern itself it will never govern in Victoria." He appealed to the Victorian Liberal Party to "get back to its fundamental values set, and that is to reduce the size of government and the cost of government”.[28]

Bastiaan continues to be involved in internal Liberal Party politics and advocates for policy issues, writing and appearing in the media.[29][30]

Business

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Bastiaan has run several successful technology businesses, including e-commerce and logistics start-ups. Bastiaan is the director of The Specialty Group, which owns building product manufacturing businesses in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.[31][32][33][34][35] In 2023, Bastiaan moved Specialty Doors into a manufacturing plant in Dandenong South.[33] He also set up a logistics hub for the company on the Gold Coast.[33]

In 2024, Bastiaan founded the timber profiling and component service Specialty Commercial and the acoustic product company Specialty Acoustics.[36]

Bastiaan is a director of Forest and Wood Communities Australia and has been critical of government led forestry closures in Victoria and NSW, due to the impact on businesses within the sector and regional communities. He has advocated for forestry policy that transitions timber production from native forests to plantations in the media.[37][38][39]

Personal life

[edit]

Bastiaan graduated from Brighton Grammar in 2008. He married Stephanie Ross in May 2017 at Our Lady of Victories Basilica Catholic Church in Camberwell. His wife writes for The Spectator, Australia.[40] They have five daughters and live in Stirling, South Australia.[4]

Bastiaan is the son of Ross Bastiaan and the grandson of Wolfe Morris.[41]

References

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  1. ^ McKenzie-Murray, Martin (12 May 2018). "The Victorian right's capture of the Liberal Party". The Saturday Paper.
  2. ^ "Opening and Closing Doors". Timber & Forestry e News. 8 August 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Preiss, Benjamin (6 September 2018). "Rising powerbroker Marcus Bastiaan quits Liberal power hub". The Age.
  4. ^ a b "From early tech success to failure in PNG: Rapid change drives Australian entrepreneur Marcus Bastiaan". msn.com. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
  5. ^ Adamis, Peter (23 March 2018). "The Lion – Marcus Bastiaan". Abalinx & Associates. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022.
  6. ^ "2012 Election Results". vec.vic.gov.au.
  7. ^ "Nepal Fundraising & Breakfast with Minister - Consulate General of Nepal in Victoria". Nepal Consulate AU. 8 September 2015.
  8. ^ "About Us - Liberal Victoria". vic.liberal.org.au. Archived from the original on 16 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Kroger wins". Herald Sun. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  10. ^ a b "Former Victorian Liberal vice-president resigns from party after secret recordings aired". ABC News. 24 August 2020.
  11. ^ Brissenden, Michael (13 November 2017). "Turnbull is at his weakest and the conservatives are circling". ABC News.
  12. ^ "Liberal powerbroker couple to step down". HeraldSun. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  13. ^ "Liberal powerbrokers in racist and homophobic text furore". The Age. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019.
  14. ^ "Social media app blocks lewd, offensive posts linked to Liberals". The Age. 29 June 2019.
  15. ^ a b "Nine Entertainment settles defamation case with former Victorian Liberal Party powerbroker Marcus Bastiaan". The Australian Business Review. 23 January 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  16. ^ a b "Victorian Liberal Party powerbroker wins major defamation suit against 60 Minutes". 7 News AU. 24 January 2023.
  17. ^ "Conservative Liberals hatch plan to thwart dying with dignity laws". ABC News. 11 July 2017.
  18. ^ Willingham, Richard (13 February 2017). "Liberal preselection candidate lashes out at Matthew Guy over gas policy".
  19. ^ "Victorian Liberal powerbroker Marcus Bastiaan resigns from party following branch stacking allegations". ABC News. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  20. ^ Harris, Rob (28 August 2020). "How the Victorian Liberals' conservative warlords tore the party apart". amp.theage.com.au. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  21. ^ "Why won't Frydenberg save the Victorian Liberals?". Australian Financial Review. 26 August 2020.
  22. ^ Sakkal, Rob Harris, Paul (28 August 2020). "How the Victorian Liberals' conservative warlords tore the party apart". The Age. Retrieved 30 December 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ "Sukkar helped install factional operatives in Kevin Andrews' office". The Age. 25 August 2020.
  24. ^ "Michael Sukkar and Kevin Andrews cleared of wrongdoing after allegations of Victorian Liberal Party branch stacking". ABC News. 13 October 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  25. ^ "Knives out for Liberal president". The Australian. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  26. ^ "Ex-Libs powerbroker launches legal fight over branch stacking claims". heraldsun.com.au. 29 August 2023.
  27. ^ "Nine pays six figures to bigwig". ntnews.com.au. 23 January 2023.
  28. ^ "Liberal Party will never "govern" in Victoria". SkyNews AU. 23 January 2023.
  29. ^ "Victorian Liberal Party needs drastic change from within". Herald Sun. 16 February 2021.
  30. ^ "Spectator Australia articles by Marcus Bastiaan". spectator.com.au.
  31. ^ "Victorian Liberals: Factional fight exposes deep divisions". The Age. 17 February 2017.
  32. ^ "Man Behind The Badge 2 - Marcus Bastiaan" (PDF). Rotary Brighton. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  33. ^ a b c "Specialty Doors goes for growth". Man Monthly AU. 28 May 2024.
  34. ^ "DOORS OPEN INTERSTATE". Timber and Forestry e News. 6 June 2024.
  35. ^ "Manufacturers now forced to source hardwood offshore". Timber Biz AU. 31 May 2024.
  36. ^ "New businesses, a Specialty". Timber and Forestry e News. 11 December 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
  37. ^ "VicForests hung themselves and the industry out to dry". TimberBiz. 3 May 2024.
  38. ^ "Green feels chop over Labor deals". The Spectator (Australia). 24 October 2023.
  39. ^ "A tinderbox of incompetence". The Spectator (Australia). 24 October 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  40. ^ "Radar goes dark at QBE: where is Colin Fagen?". The Australian. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  41. ^ "Israel or nothing". The Spectator (Australia). 14 November 2024.