J. R Kemp, the "Grand Pooh-Bah"

THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND Accepte—r-—d fo,wr, thi,,ce dwarawarda OoTf ^<^-^^-..<?L/i/^fi.i J. R KEMP, on.TH' E "GRAND POOH-BAH": A STUDY OF TECHNOCRACY AND STATE DEVELOPMENT IN QUEENSLAND, 1920 -1955 A Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Queensland Kay Cohen B. A.(Fr.),B. Soc.Stud.,M.A(Govt.) School of Political Science and International Studies University of Queensland Brisbane, Queensland March 2002 Statement of Originality The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and behef, original, except as acknowledged in the text. The material has not been submitted in whole or in part for a degree at this or any other University. Kay Teresa Cohen March, 2002 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My thanks to many colleagues and friends for their patience and helpful advice during the long process of writing this thesis. Thanks also to the staff and members of various archives, Ubraries and associations for vviiom no request of mine was too much trouble, and departmental support staff and post-graduate students who were always cheerfully supportive. I owe a great deal to my supervisor. Dr. Paul Reynolds, for helping me realise a long- held ambition. His reassurances kept me going when I might have given in and given up. Finally, to my family, Jon, Samantha, Ben, Toby and Sally, I will always be grateful for your constant encouragement and loving support through what were difficult times for all of us. J. R. KEMP, THE "GRAND POOH-BAH": A STUDY OF TECHNOCRACY AND STATE DEVELOPMENT IN QUEENSLAND, 1920 -1955. ABSTRACT The principal aim of this thesis is to explain the rise of civil engineer, J. R. Kemp, to a position of unrivalled administrative power and his role in the subsequent characterisation of Queensland as 'the state of development'. Kemp was appointed head of Queensland's first Main Roads authority and was the first Co-Ordinator- General of Pub he Works in the history of Westem democracies. He also had administrative responsibility for the Bureau of Industry's three major Depression-era projects, Brisbane's Story Bridge, the Somerset Dam and the new University of Queensland at St. Lucia His supervision as Deputy-Director of the Allied Works Council of the Allied Forces defence works program in Queensland during World War Two confirmed his national reputation as an effective administrator wdiile, in the post-war period, he devoted all his energies to the realisation of his controversial vision for central and north Queensland's economic growth throu^ large-scale infrastructure development. The most notable projects were the restructuring of port facilities, development of the central Queensland coalfields, and the Tully and Burdekin water conservation, irrigation and hydro-electricity schemes. Kemp conforms to the theoretical model of a technocrat whose cq)acity to acquire and exercise administrative power is a function of a pro-development political climate. He served five Labor premiers, two of whom, William Forgan Smith and Edward Hanlon, strongly endorsed an overall policy of state development with its concomitant emphasis on achieving efficiency tiirough forward planning and co ordination. I argue that, rather than being the recipient of the benefits of an existing situation, Ken^ played a determining role in the evolution of the poUtical CONTENTS Introduction 1 1. Engineer-Administrators and Technocratic Power. 19 2. A Foundation for Administrative Power: J. R Kemp and Queensland's First Main Roads Authority. 72 3. 'Boards ofExperts': Kemp and the Bureau of Industry. 136 4. The Co-Ordinator-General of Pubhc Works: Issues of Role and Influence. 185 5. World War Two and Post-war Reconstruction. 228 6. The Final Years. 278 Conclusion 339 Bibliography 353 INTRODUCTION In describing J. R. Kemp as "the grand pooh-bah", J. M. Powell evoked the image of an unassailably powerfiil public official vs^o had forged his own administrative "empire"^ In Queensland Parliament, Kemp was variously described as the Government's chief technical adviser, "one of the best pubhc servants in Australia", a "superman" who held more positions than any other public official in Queensland, and a "Hitier" on v^om the government conferred "despotic" powers embodying "the principles of fascism."^ A civil engineer,^ John Robert Kemp was widely regarded as the most influential official in Queensland government administration in the years from his appointment in 1939 as Co-ordinator-General of Public Works (Co-Ordinator-General) until his retirement in 1954. Although he was respected both personally and professionally, and never lacked supporters willing to defend him in public debates, his role in govemment administration was the subject of on-going controversy. This was due in large part to the wide-ranging decision-making powers delegated to him and the administrative independence they allowed, the government's acknowledgement of its dependence on him in planning and co ordinating state public works development, and the "empire" of influence he consequently assembled. ' J. M. Powell, Plains of Promise, Rivers of Destiny: Water Management and the Development of Queensland, 1924-1990,Bowenm\ls: Boolarong, 1991,p.240. ^ W. Forgan Smith, State Development and Public Works Organisation Act Amendment Bill, 1940, Initiation, Queensland Parliamentary Debates(QPD), 1940, Vol.176, p.250; A E. Moore, Second Reading, op. cit., p.270; J. Dart, State Development and Public Works Organisation Bill, 1938, Second Reading, QPD, 1938, Vol. 172, p.256; J. Maher, op.cit., p. 162. ^ Unless otherwise stated, all following references to engineers are to civil engineers. 1 The principal aims of this dissertation are to explain why and how Kemp achieved his position of administrative power and to assess the extent of his influence on tiie direction of pubhc works development in Queensland. In 1932, the Labor Govemment or, more particularly, the Premier, William Forgan Smith, had announced the intention to pursue for the first time a policy of planning centrally- controlled public works of a permanent nature. Its intended aim was to counter high unemployment and to secure the livelihood of workers and small producers in the State's primary industries. The decision, initially manifested in the creation of tiie Bureau of Industry, signaled a political commitment to large-scale infrastructure development programmes which was not readily accepted either by the Labor Party and its constituents or by senior departmental officials. Endorsed by strong Labor leaders, it endured through successive governments and laid the foimdation for the characterisation of Queensland as "the state of development" and its politics as "the politics of development" "* Much of the analysis covering this period is concerned with charting cause and effect, or inputs and outcomes, within a strictly political discourse. The role of pubhc officials in particular policy areas has tended to be equated with tiie advisory, instrumental role assigned to them by the Westminster model of responsible govemment and thus undervalued or ignored. One exception was the Public Service Commissioner, J. D. Story, wiiose advice tiie govemment of the day heeded in matters extending well beyond his principal responsibility for pubhc service industrial matters. Another was economist, Colin Clark, who is seen as the dominant official of this period and whose influence on the overall direction of Queensland * Colin Hughes, "Queensland" in John Rorke (ed.) Politics at State Level - Australia, Sydney: Department Adult Education, University of Sydney, no date (n.d.), p.44. economic policy has been accorded political significance.^ On the face of it, Kemp was unexceptional. He was a man for the times, one of the many administrators with technical expertise whose professional goals were in step with those of development- oriented governments and vdio were given responsibility for the efficient dehvery of specific infrastructure projects. Yet he was exceptional in that none of his professional colleagues in Queensland achieved anything approaching Kemp's level of administrative power. Arguably, the range and comprehensive nature of his powers and responsibilities were not matched by other well-known engineer- administrators influential in aspects of state development, such as John Monash in Victoria, Allan Knight in Tasmania and R. J. Dumas in Westem Australia^ Within Queensland, not only was Kemp's singularly powerful role acknowledged, if not always endorsed, by his contemporaries but his mfluence on the State's infrastructure development has also endured. He set the precedent for tiie dominance of the engineer-administrator in this field and the continuing identification of the Co- Ordinator-General as "the most powerful public servant" in Queensland well into the 1980s,^ as well as instituting public works' planning and construction processes that ' See Chilla Bulbeck, "Colin Clark and the Greening of Queensland: The Influence of a Senior Public Servant on Queensland Economic Development 1938 to 1952". Paper read to Royal Australian Institute of Public Administration Administrative History Conference, University of Queensland, 1986. Photocopy, 1987; Ross Fitzgerald, From 1915 to the Early 1980s: A History of Queensland. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press (UQP), 1984, pp. 181-4. * Geoffrey Serle, John Monash: A Biography. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1982; Doug Lowe, The Price of Power: The Politics Behind the Tasmanian Dams Case, Melbourne: Macmillan, 1984, Chapters

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