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The Life and Times of the Remarkable Alf Pollard
1 FROM FARMBOY TO SUPERSTAR: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE REMARKABLE ALF POLLARD John S. Croucher B.A. (Hons) (Macq) MSc PhD (Minn) PhD (Macq) PhD (Hon) (DWU) FRSA FAustMS A dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Technology, Sydney Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences August 2014 2 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP I certify that the work in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree nor has it been submitted as part of requirements for a degree except as fully acknowledged within the text. I also certify that the thesis has been written by me. Any help that I have received in my research work and the preparation of the thesis itself has been acknowledged. In addition, I certify that all information sources and literature used are indicated in the thesis. Signature of Student: Date: 12 August 2014 3 INTRODUCTION Alf Pollard’s contribution to the business history of Australia is as yet unwritten—both as a biography of the man himself, but also his singular, albeit often quiet, achievements. He helped to shape the business world in which he operated and, in parallel, made outstanding contributions to Australian society. Cultural deprivation theory tells us that people who are working class have themselves to blame for the failure of their children in education1 and Alf was certainly from a low socio-economic, indeed extremely poor, family. He fitted such a child to the letter, although he later turned out to be an outstanding counter-example despite having no ‘built-in’ advantage as he not been socialised in a dominant wealthy culture. -
William Mcmahon: the First Treasurer with an Economics Degree
William McMahon: the first Treasurer with an economics degree John Hawkins1 William McMahon was Australia’s first treasurer formally trained in economics. He brought extraordinary energy to the role. The economy performed strongly during McMahon’s tenure, although there are no major reforms to his name, and arguably pressures were allowed to build which led to the subsequent inflation of the 1970s. Never popular with his cabinet colleagues, McMahon’s public reputation was tarnished by his subsequent unsuccessful period as prime minister. Source: National Library of Australia.2 1 The author formerly worked in the Domestic Economy Division, the Australian Treasury. This article has benefited from comments provided by Selwyn Cornish and Ian Hancock but responsibility lies with the author and the views are not necessarily those of Treasury. 83 William McMahon: the first treasurer with an economics degree Introduction Sir William McMahon is now recalled by the public, if at all, for accompanying his glamorous wife to the White House in a daringly revealing outfit (hers not his). Comparisons invariably place him as one of the weakest of the Australian prime ministers.3 Indeed, McMahon himself recalled it as ‘a time of total unpleasantness’.4 His reputation as treasurer is much better, being called ‘by common consent a remarkably good one’.5 The economy performed well during his tenure, but with the global economy strong and no major shocks, this was probably more good luck than good management.6 His 21 years and four months as a government minister, across a range of portfolios, was the third longest (and longest continuously serving) in Australian history.7 In his younger days he was something of a renaissance man; ‘a champion ballroom dancer, an amateur boxer and a good squash player — all of which require, like politics, being fast on his feet’.8 He suffered deafness until it was partly cured by some 2 ‘Portrait of William McMahon, Prime Minister of Australia from 1971-1972/Australian Information Service’, Bib ID: 2547524. -
Leslie Bury — from Treasury to Treasurer
Leslie Bury — from Treasury to Treasurer John Hawkins1 Les Bury was a Treasury employee who rose to become Treasurer. Although one of the best qualified treasurers, with a serious interest in economics, he only had a short time in the job and was by most accounts well past his peak before he became treasurer. He was ahead of his time in advocating broader measures of wellbeing, taking steps towards replacing some income tax with indirect tax and supporting the compilation of forward estimates. Source: National Archives of Australia2 1 The author formerly worked in the Domestic Economy Division, the Australian Treasury. This article has benefited from information provided by Jonathan Holmes, Keeper of the Records at Queens’ College, Cambridge, and comments, information, reminiscences and suggestions provided by Mike Bury, Nick Bury, Selwyn Cornish, Ian Hancock, Alex Millmow and John Wanna. The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Australian Treasury. 2 Portrait of Leslie Bury, Minister for Labour and National Service in the Australian Federal Parliament, National Archives of Australia: A1200, L29420. 113 Leslie Bury: from Treasury to Treasurer Introduction Bury was a Treasury employee who rose to become Treasurer.3 He was also the first professional economist to hold the post. Indeed he has been called ‘among treasurers, the one best qualified as an economist’.4 But unfortunately this was not enough to guarantee success as by the time he held the post his health had deteriorated. Bury admired ‘the greatest economist of all time, Adam Smith.’5 He had a ‘close interest in economics’ since schooldays.6 But he once said of it, ‘…if one pursues the learned journals in this subject, both the abstractions of the arguments and the passion of the disputants recall to mind the theological controversies of long ago. -
Submission No 13
Submission No 13 Inquiry into Australia’s Relationship with Timor-Leste Name: Mr Robert J. King Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee Robert J. King 27 March 2013 [email protected] Dr John Carter Secretary, Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Department of the House of Representatives PO Box 6021 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Australia's relationship with Timor-Leste Dear Dr Carter, I attach my submission to the Committee’s inquiry into Australia's relationship with Timor-Leste. I make the submission as a private citizen. It is written entirely from publicly available sources and I am happy for it to be published, but without my home address as below. The contact e-mail may be shown as [email protected] For your correspondence with me, please use the e-mail address: [email protected] Yours sincerely, Robert J. King 1 A Gap in the Relationship: the Timor Gap, 1972-2013 Robert J. King March 2013 The 23 February 2013 was a significant date for Australia's relationship with Timor-Leste.1 A condition of the Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS) Treaty was that either country could terminate it if by then there was still no jointly approved development plan for the Greater Sunrise gas project. This condition of the treaty not having been met, it was open to either country to terminate it. The CMATS Treaty, signed in January 2006, put on hold the two countries' claims to jurisdiction and maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea for fifty years. -
6 Sir Roland Wilson – Primus Inter Pares
6 Sir Roland Wilson – Primus Inter Pares Selwyn Cornish1 When Roland Wilson was inducted into the military cadets at age 14 he weighed scarcely 25 kg; at full height he was only 158 cm.2 He was clearly a person of slight build and short stature. But he frequently reminded those who drew attention to these facts that his endowment of brainpower was more than adequate compensation. He could run intellectual rings around ministers, business leaders, academics, public servants and journalists. Yet he was not only highly intelligent; he also possessed moral courage and had a biting wit. According to Douglas Copland, Wilson at an early age exhibited ‘force of character and capacity for leadership’.3 As to wit, a colleague remarked that Wilson used it ‘for many a devastating one liner’, adding that the ‘one-liner could be humorous, or it could be like a whiplash’.4 Wilson stood up to some of the most powerful men in this country and abroad, including Eddie Ward and John Foster Dulles. Tom Fitzgerald, the finance editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, accurately summed up Wilson when he said that ‘[b]y his intelligence and force of character, Sir Roland Wilson has been the outstanding public servant of his generation’.5 John Maynard Keynes, who observed Wilson in action at a conference in London during the war, reported that he and other Whitehall officials had ‘the greatest respect for his wisdom and for his pertinacity’.6 1 This paper draws heavily on the following three publications: S. Cornish, Sir Roland Wilson: A Biographical Essay (Canberra: The Sir Roland Wilson Foundation, 2002); W. -
Just Passing Through
1 JUST PASSING THROUGH 1. INTRODUCTION I was born in Estonia. Leaving there as a teenager ahead of the second Soviet occupation of that country in September 1944, I became a refugee in Germany. Immigrating to Australia in 1949 and becoming a citizen, most of my working life was then spent in the minerals industry until retirement in 1999. Some of my friends, no doubt conscious of the relentless passage of time, have urged me to record my recollections. They have been mostly too gentle to add “before it is too late”. I had been doing this in considerable detail, including my family history going back just over 300 years and the events in Western Mining Corporation during the 25 years I was the Chairman. The complete record is too detailed to be of general interest and I have therefore prepared this selection of topics which, while omitting many episodes and only just touching on others, deals with many of the happenings in my life and includes reflections on a number of issues. It is not for publication, but a private document for a limited circle of family and friends. The initial manuscript was concluded in September 2005. Amended and updated on several occasions, it was finalised in January 2008. When considering past events, we must remember that the world then was different from today‟s. Even in my lifetime both the physical conditions of life – travel, communications, living standards generally – and people‟s attitudes, perceptions and values have gone through a great change. Going further back the changes are greater still. -
Negotiating the Australia–Japan Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation: Reflections and Afterthoughts
AUSTRALIA–JAPAN RESEARCH CENTRE ANU COLLEGE OF ASIA & THE PACIFIC CRAWFORD SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND GOVERNMENT NEGOTIATING THE AUSTRALIA–JAPAN BASIC TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP AND COOPERATION: REFLECTIONS AND AFTERTHOUGHTS Gary Woodard, Moreen Dee and Max Suich ASIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC PAPERS NO. 362, 2007 ASIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC PAPER NO. 362 2007 Negotiating the Australia–Japan Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation: Reflections and Afterthoughts Garry Woodard Melbourne University Moreen Dee Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Max Suich Media Consultant, MJs Information AUSTRALIA–JAPAN RESEARCH CENTRE CRAWFORD SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS & GOVERNMENT ANU COLLEGE OF ASIA AND THE PACIFIC © Garry Woodard, Moreen Dee and Max Suich 2007 This work is copyright. Apart from those uses which may be permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 as amended, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Asia Pacific Economic Papers are published under the direction of the Editorial Committee of the Australia–Japan Research Centre (AJRC). Members of the Editorial Committee are: Professor Jenny Corbett Executive Director Australia–Japan Research Centre The Australian National University, Canberra Professor Emeritus Peter Drysdale Crawford School of Economics and Government The Australian National University, Canberra Professor Christopher Findlay Professor of Economics University of Adelaide Adelaide, South Australia Professor Stuart Harris Department of International Relations The Australian National University, Canberra Dr Kazuki Onji Crawford School of Economics and Government The Australian National University, Canberra Papers submitted for publication in this series are subject to double-blind external review by two referees. The views expressed in APEPs are those of the individual authors and do not represent the views of the Australia–Japan Research Centre, the Crawford School, or the institutions to which authors are attached. -
13 Sir Arthur Tange: Departmental Reformer
13 Sir Arthur Tange: Departmental Reformer Peter Edwards Sir Arthur Tange was remembered, especially in Canberra, long after his retirement, but very largely for his last position, as secretary of the Department of Defence throughout the 1970s. There are many in the military who have still not forgiven the author of ‘the Tange report’ and the instigator of ‘the Tange reforms’, which resulted not only in a fundamental reorganisation of the Defence group of departments but also in major changes to Australian strategic policies. Particularly among left-leaning journalists, there was a longstanding belief that Tange was the crucial link between the CIA and the Governor-General that led to the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in November 1975. Others long contended that he played a dishonourable role at the time of the deaths of five Australia-based journalists at Balibo, Portuguese Timor, in October 1975. Within the public service, anecdotes long endured of Tange’s style, which would today be described as unacceptable bullying. Tange was capable of browbeating officers, even senior officers, in front of their subordinates, stopping just short of physical contact, throwing down files so that they disintegrated on the floor – and then, in a split second, turning to welcome a visiting dignitary with wit and charm. Ever conscious of the importance of his own time, he would insist that a lift was kept available for his use, and Heaven help anyone who encroached on his parking space, even at a weekend. Wits liked to describe the Chinese floor vases outside his office as ‘Late Tang – slightly cracked’. -
Australian Government Administration in the Post-War Reconstruction Era
The Seven Dwarfs and the Age of the Mandarins AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION IN THE POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION ERA The Seven Dwarfs and the Age of the Mandarins AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION IN THE POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION ERA EDITED BY SAMUEL FURPHY Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: The seven dwarfs and the age of the mandarins : Australian government administration in the post-war reconstruction era / editor Samuel Furphy. ISBN: 9781925022322 (paperback) 9781925022339 (ebook) Subjects: Government executives--Australia--Biography. Civil service--Australia--History. Public administration--Australia--History. Reconstruction (1939–1951)--Australia--History. Postwar reconstruction--Australia--History. Federal government--Australia--History. Australia--Officials and employees--Biography. Australia--Politics and government--1945– . Other Creators/Contributors: Furphy, Samuel, editor. Dewey Number: 352.30994 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. The ANU.Lives Series in Biography is an initiative of the National Centre of Biography at The Australian National University, http://ncb.anu.edu.au/. Cover design by ANU Press Layout by ANU Press Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2015 ANU Press Contents Illustrations . .vii Contributors . ix Acknowledgements . xiii Preface . xv J.R. Nethercote and Samuel Furphy Part I 1 . The Seven Dwarfs: A Team of Rivals . 3 Nicholas Brown 2 . The Post-War Reconstruction Project . -
Joint Committee
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA JOINT COMMITTEE of PUBLIC ACCOUNTS Reference: Review of Public Service Bill 1997 CANBERRA Thursday, 7 August 1997 OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT CANBERRA JOINT COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS Members Mr Somlyay (Chairman) Mr Griffin (Deputy Chairman) Senator Coonan Mr Beddall Senator Faulkner Mr Broadbent Senator Gibson Mr Fitzgibbon Senator Hogg Mr Georgiou The terms of reference for this inquiry are: (a) the Public Service Bill 1997 and the Public Employment (Consequential and Transitional) Amendment Bill 1997 be referred to the Joint Committee of Public Accounts for consideration and an advisory report by 4 September 1997; (b) the terms of this resolution, so far as they are inconsistent with the standing and sessional orders, have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the standing and sessional orders; and (c) that a message be sent to the Senate acquainting it of this reference to the Committee. WITNESSES BOLTON, Mr Michael William, Secretary, Joint House Department, Parliament House, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2600 ....... 184 COVENTRY, Ms Helen Elizabeth, Lecturer, School of Administrative Studies, Faculty of Management, University of Canberra, PO Box 1, Belconnen, Australian Capital Territory 2616 .............................. 129 EVANS, Mr Harry, Clerk of the Senate, The Senate, Parliament House, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601 ..................... 115 HEWITT, Sir Lenox, OBE, 9 Torres St, Red Hill, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory .......................................... 140 NEAVE, Professor Marcia, President, Administrative Review Council, c/- PO Box 3222, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601 .............. 155 ROSE, Mr Alan Douglas, President, Australian Law Reform Commission, GPO Box 1995, Canberra City, Australian Capital Territory 2601 ...... 161 SAWER, Dr Marian, 5 Wisdom Place, Hughes, Australian Capital Territory 2605 .................................................. -
East Timor Inquiry: Canberra, 11 November 1999
The Timor Gap, 1972-2017 Robert J. King 2 March 2017 The Timor Gap, 1972-2017 Robert J. King Contents Introduction page 4 The creation of the Timor Gap 5 Why Indonesia agreed to a compromise line in 1972 9 Negotiations with Portugal to close the Timor Gap, 1970-1974 12 Australian petroleum exploration in and off Timor 18 Negotiations with Indonesia on the Timor Gap 20 The Timor Gap (Zone of Cooperation) Treaty 28 Decision of the International Court of Justice 32 1997 Delimitation Treaty 32 East Timor during the period of UNTAET 33 Bayu-Undan Liquids Recovery and Gas Recycle Project 34 Indonesia's interest subsequent to its renunciation of sovereignty 37 Position of the East Timorese leading up to independence 39 Negotiations with UNTAET/ETTA 42 International Law on the resolution of maritime boundary disputes 43 Petrotimor 45 The July 2001 Interim Agreement 46 Australia’s rejection of international arbitration 47 The 2002 Timor Sea Treaty 48 Negotiations on a unitisation agreement for Greater Sunrise 50 The International Unitisation Agreement (IUA) 54 Negotiations on maritime boundaries, 2003-2006 55 Towards a ‘Creative Solution’ 58 The Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea 64 Non-implementation of the CMATS Treaty, 2007-2013 68 Arbitration on CMATS 73 Recommencement of negotiations on the maritime boundary 76 Toward a final settlement of Australia’s maritime borders 88 3 Introduction The 23 February 2013 was a significant date for Australia's relationship with 1 Timor-Leste. A condition of the Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS) Treaty was that either country could terminate it if by then there was still no jointly approved development plan for the Greater Sunrise gas project. -
OH805 GOLDSWORTHY, Reuben
STATE LIBRARY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA J. D. SOMERVILLE ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION OH 593/2 Full transcript of an interview with MARY HELEN NEWPORT on 1 June 2001 By Peter Donovan Recording available on CD Access for research: Unrestricted Right to photocopy: Copies may be made for research and study Right to quote or publish: Publication only with written permission from the State Library OH 593/2 MARY HELEN NEWPORT NOTES TO THE TRANSCRIPT This transcript was created by the J. D. Somerville Oral History Collection of the State Library. It conforms to the Somerville Collection's policies for transcription which are explained below. Readers of this oral history transcript should bear in mind that it is a record of the spoken word and reflects the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The State Library is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the interview, nor for the views expressed therein. As with any historical source, these are for the reader to judge. It is the Somerville Collection's policy to produce a transcript that is, so far as possible, a verbatim transcript that preserves the interviewee's manner of speaking and the conversational style of the interview. Certain conventions of transcription have been applied (ie. the omission of meaningless noises, false starts and a percentage of the interviewee's crutch words). Where the interviewee has had the opportunity to read the transcript, their suggested alterations have been incorporated in the text (see below). On the whole, the document can be regarded as a raw transcript. Abbreviations: The interviewee’s alterations may be identified by their initials in insertions in the transcript.