Mark Davis spent more than 20 years as a journalist covering industrial relations, transport, economics and politics for The Age, The Australian Financial Review and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was a deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review and a federal vice-president and industrial officer for the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance. He has known Greg Combet since 1988. Davis was Combet's media adviser during the negotiation and implementation of the Gillard government's clean energy reforms to tackle climate change.