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Patrick Joseph McClure, AO, chaired the Reference Group on Welfare Reform (2014 – 15), advises governments on social policy, is a company director and former chief executive officer. McClure regularly speaks at conferences and appears in the media on welfare reform and social policy issues.

He has published a memoir entitled Seize the Day: From Priest to CEO. The book was launched in April 2013 by the former Prime Minister of Australia, Hon John Howard.

Reference Group on Welfare Reform


In December 2013 it was announced by Kevin Andrews, Minister for Social Services, that McClure would chair a Reference Group on Welfare Reform.

The interim report was released on June 29, 2014. This was followed by a process of roundtables with 175 key stakeholders in all states and territories, consultations with 55 people on income support, 271 formal submissions and 231 online comments.

The final report "A New System for Better Employment and Social Outcomes" was launched in Canberra on February 23, 2015 by Patrick McClure and the Minister for Social Services, Scott Morrison.

The final report proposes an integrated approach to welfare reform across four pillars of reform with an employment focus. The four pillars are: simpler and sustainable income support system; building individual and family capability; engaging with employers; and building community capacity.

Key recommendations include reducing the current complex and inefficient system of 20 payments and 55 supplements to 5 payments and 4 categories of supplements; a passport to work enabling people to move easily between employment and the income support system; a new ICT system to drive efficiencies in the new income support system; an investment approach with early intervention services focusing on groups most at risk of long term welfare dependence; a jobs plan for people with disability and mental health conditions; and the use of social impact bonds to attract private investment to address social problems in disadvantaged communities.

Mission Australia


He was Chief Executive Officer of Mission Australia from 1997 - 2006. During his tenure, the organisation grew from separate state based entities with annual revenue of $50 million to an international organisation with annual revenue exceeding $300 million, 3000 staff, providing employment and training, housing, youth, family, children and aged care services to over 200,000 disadvantaged people.

During his years as CEO, Mission Australia was a major provider of employment services in the privatized Job Network. In 2001, the organisation won the Prime Minister's Community Business Partnership Award.

In 2005, it acquired a one-third shareholding in Working Links, a UK employment company. The Mission Australia Centre in Surry Hills, Sydney opened in 2005, providing integrated services for homeless people.

Society of St Vincent de Paul
He was Chief Executive Officer of the Society of St Vincent de Paul (NSW/ACT) from 1992 - 96 during a period of major organisation reform. The organization had total funds of $375 million and provided housing and social assistance to over 500,000 disadvantaged people each year.

During his tenure he was also a Member of the NSW Government Drought Assistance Committee which distributed $80 million in drought assistance to rural households and communities across NSW during 1995 - 96.

Other key career highlights
McClure was CEO, Macquarie Capital Funds' Retirement Villages Group from 2006 - 08 which raised $850 million of institutional funds for investment in retirement villages in Australia and New Zealand.

He was CEO of Aged and Community Services Australia.

He was an Ethics Fellow at the Centre for Social Impact, University of New South Wales under the leadership of Professor Peter Shergold, AC.

Current Roles
McClure is Director, Governance and Strategy and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Strategic Management (ISM), Sydney, from 2009 - current. He works with Gerard Hermens in reviewing the performance of boards and executive teams.

He is a Non-Executive Director of the Kincare Group. Kincare is Australia's largest, privately owned, in-home care organisation. He is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He is a Member of the NSW Government Social Impact Investment Expert Advisory Group. Social impact investment is an emerging approach to addressing social problems that brings together capital and expertise from across government, business and civil society.

Government Boards


In 2011, the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler appointed McClure a Member of the Aged Care Advisory Group and the Aged Care Consultative Committee.

He was appointed in 2008 as a delegate by the Rudd government to the Federal Government's 2020 Summit chaired by the then Prime Minister, Hon Kevin Rudd.

He was appointed by the Howard Government as a Commissioner of the Australian Fair Pay Commission from 2006 - 09 chaired by Professor Ian Harper.

McClure was appointed Chair of the Australian Government's Reference Group on Welfare Reform in 1999 - 2000 which produced a key report for the Minister for Social Security, Jocelyn Newman, outlining a blueprint for welfare reform titled "Participation Support for a More Equitable Society" (2000), also known as the McClure Report.

The journalist Michelle Grattan wrote about the final report in the Sydney Morning Herald of 17 August 2000: "Mission Australia's Patrick McClure has scored a trifecta. Government, Labor and Democrats all had positive things to say about the inquiry's blueprint for welfare change ... The strength of the McClure report is that it is not driven by a narrow right or left ideology. Indeed if you ask whether the report comes from the Right or the Left in its approach, the answer is both." In the 2001 Federal Budget, the Howard Government committed $1.7 billion over 4 years for the implementation of its response entitled Australians Working Together.

McClure was Deputy Chair of the Welfare to Work Consultative Forum, chaired by Kevin Andrews, Minister for Employment, Education and Workplace Relations which implemented key welfare to work initiatives in the labour market in the 2005 federal budget.

McClure was a Member of the Prime Minister's Community Business Partnership Board from 1998 - 2007, chaired by Hon John Howard. In that role, he was a Member of the Tax and Philanthropy Working Group chaired by David Gonski which proposed legislation that enabled the establishment of Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs) in Australia. In 2015 there are 1300 Private Ancillary Funds which represent $4 billion in donated funds.

He was appointed by the Howard Government as a Member of the Board for a New Tax System in 1999-2000 chaired by the current Australian Taxation Office Commissioner Chris Jordan.

McClure was Chair of the OECD-Local Employment and Economic Development Forum on Social Innovation based in Paris under the leadership of Sergio Arzeni and Antonella Noya (2004 – 06). Mission Australia in partnership with OECD-LEED organized an international forum "Social Innovation in the 21st Century: A Dialogue" in 2006 in Sydney.

Honours




McClure was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Australia Day 2003 honours list for "services to the community through the development of social capital policy initiatives, and in the delivery of programs addressing social justice, welfare support, health and employment generation issues."

He was awarded an Australian Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to the community as CEO of Mission Australia.

He was selected as an Australian Financial Review – Boss True Leader in 2005.

His life work was acknowledged in the Equity Trustee's EQT CEO Award for Lifetime Achievement recognising "leadership excellence in the non-profit sector" in 2002.

He was a finalist in the Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2002).

He was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1989 to visit and study social enterprises in the USA, UK and Canada.

Early career
After completing secondary school McClure entered the Order of Franciscans (OFM) and commenced eight years of study in philosophy and theology for the priesthood from 1968 - 75 at Yarra Theological Union in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1973 he was elected by the student body as inaugural President of the Yarra Theological Union Student Representative Council. In 1975 he was ordained a Franciscan priest and awarded a Diploma in Theology and Pastoral Studies from Yarra Theological Union, a member of the Melbourne College of Divinity, in Victoria. He worked as a Franciscan priest in Perth, Western Australia.

After resigning from the priesthood, he completed a Bachelor of Social Work (Distinction) at Curtin University, Western Australia (1979 – 82) and later obtained a Master of Arts (Public Policy) at Murdoch University, Western Australia (1987 – 91).

McClure worked as a senior social worker and Director, Migrant Services Unit in the Department of Social Security, Perth, Western Australia (1985–90). He was promoted and transferred to Sydney as an Area Manager, Social Work in the Department of Social Security.

McClure was Founder and Chair of Second Harvest (Australia) in Perth, Western Australia (1978 – 89), a social enterprise with annual revenue of $1 million providing low cost food to over 3000 disadvantaged households each week.

He was also a Non-Executive Director of Amnesty International (Australia) from 1978 - 88 with portfolio responsibility for refugees. McClure coordinated global campaigns to highlight human rights abuses and seek the release of prisoners of conscience. During this period the board introduced major reforms as the organisation developed into a leading, national advocacy organisation.

Early years
McClure was born in 1949 in Auckland, New Zealand. He was one of seven children of Arthur and Ngaire McClure. His father was Managing Director of Warner Brothers Pictures in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region. His grandfather Cecil McClure served during the First World War at Gallipoli, Ypres, the Somme and Passchendaele, was wounded and awarded a Military Cross and Bar. McClure has written two books on the family history.

He completed his primary school education at St Michael's School, Remuera, Auckland, and his early secondary school education at St Peter's College, Epsom, Auckland.

His family migrated to Australia in 1963 and he completed his secondary school education at Waverley College, Waverley, Sydney. In his final year of school (1967) he was adjutant of the Waverley College Cadet Unit, College Oratory and Debating Champion and was awarded the JJ O'Brien Memorial Prize for Leadership, Study and Sport.