John Griffin is one of Australia’s most experienced government relations and political strategy advisers and is highly sought after in both the corporate and political spheres.
John was a long standing Director at Barton Deakin, assisting clients to engage well with the Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian Liberal state governments and Federal Coalition Government, from 2011 to 2022.
As Special Counsel at Barton Deakin, John’s extensive experience remains available to Barton Deakin and our clients.
Born and raised in Adelaide, John has more than 35 years’ experience as an adviser to Coalition governments and oppositions in South Australia, Canberra and Victoria. In the federal political arena he served as Legislative Assistant to Senator Robert Hill, Senior Private Secretary to John Howard during his first period as Opposition Leader, Parliamentary and Policy Consultant to the Liberal Party Federal Secretariat and as Senior Private Secretary to Dr John Hewson.
After working on the Victorian Coalition’s successful 1992 state election campaign, John was appointed Chief of Staff to Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett and served in that position for five years, including securing Jeff Kennett’s successful 1996 re-election campaign.
Since 1997, including at Barton Deakin, John has been a successful government relations and issues management adviser to a range of Australian and international corporations. He has also advised government agencies and private sector companies in the United States, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
John continues to assist the Liberal and National Parties on state and federal election campaigns as a senior political strategist and campaign adviser.