Gareth Evans - Incorrigible Optimist

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PRAISE FOR GARETH EVANSS INSIDE THE HAWKEKEATING GOVERNMENT: A CABINET DIARY (MUP, 2014)

It says much that a diary written 30 years ago can still sparkle and shimmy with a vibrancy that puts most recent political tomes to shame there is good political gossip, sharp assessments of political and business leaders who still grace the stage, and lots of laugh-out-loud moments.

Laura Tingle, Australian Financial Review

Evans has produced an impressive, intimate view of government of the most blow-by-blow kind. Inside the HawkeKeating Government is a masterly account of the period it covers. Its a pity its not ten times longer, but it remains nevertheless a fragment of a great work of epical range and virtuosity and human interest. It constitutes one of the finest pieces of political writing.

Peter Craven, Weekend Australian

The genius of the political diary genre is that it provides a raw and unfiltered day-by-day account of politics. The hard slog of policymaking, endless rounds of meetings, the chronic tiredness, the gladiatorial combat and the relentless pressures are evident on every page The comments of ministers, including those made around the cabinet table, are priceless.

Troy Bramston, The Australian

elegant, witty

Jonathan Green, Sydney Morning Herald

What a timely antidote to the cynicism of the current political life At a time when numerous political tomes are hitting the bookstands, this is a compelling record of a government that created great things within its multi-talented Cabinet.

Nick Richardson, Daily Telegraph

compelling, entertaining and informative

Denis Atkins, The Courier-Mail

We may have only two years of Evanss remarkably frank diary entries, but they will be picked over by grateful historians for many decades to come.

David Day, Australian Book Review

MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PRESS

An imprint of Melbourne University Publishing Limited

Level 1, 715 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia

www.mup.com.au

First published 2017

Text Gareth Evans, 2017

Images individual contributors, various dates

Design and typography Melbourne University Publishing Limited, 2017

This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or process whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publishers.

Every attempt has been made to locate the copyright holders for material quoted in this book. Any person or organisation that may have been overlooked or misattributed may contact the publisher.

Cover design by Philip Campbell Design

Typeset by Cannon Typesetting

Printed in China by 1010 Printing International Ltd

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Evans, Gareth, author.

Incorrigible optimist/Gareth Evans.

9780522866445 (hardback)

9780522866452 (ebook)

Includes index.

Evans, Gareth, 1944

Foreign ministersAustraliaBiography.

LegislatorsAustraliaBiography.

PoliticiansAustraliaBiography.

AustraliaPolitics and government1945

To Merran Caitlin and Eamon and the next generation Eve, Henry, Zachary and Eliza

I prefer to live as an optimist and be wrong, than live as a pessimist and always be right.

Anonymous, quoted in Jean-Michel Guenassia,
The Incorrigible Optimists Club, 2011

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho, 1983

Contents

Being careful what you wish forCivil libertarianA national bill of rightsLaw reformerFailed constitutional reformerThe joys of oppositionBecoming Attorney-GeneralBigglesCombeIvanovThe trials of Lionel MurphyMinisterial dreams and realities

Death in AliceGrowing up in the 1950sAboriginal legal services and land rightsMabo in the SenateMandela and apartheidThe changing face of Australian racismIndigenous recognition and reconciliationLegislating against race hatred

Minister for Pipes and HolesEnergyMiningWaterMinister for Transport and CommunicationsCorporatising the state-owned enterprisesLabors brand of socialismTough love for the ABCRelevance deprivation in oppositionContemporary economic challenges

New dawnInheriting the Labor traditionBecoming Foreign MinisterHis mind craves structuresNational interests and good international citizenshipNational capabilitiesUnited States allianceMiddle power diplomacySetting prioritiesSouth PacificAid, human rights and the environmentCooperative securityAustralia and the United Nations

At home in AsiaIndonesiaEast TimorPeace in CambodiaRegional economic and security architectureASEANJapanChina v. United StatesIndia and the Indo-PacificMiddle EastUK and EuropeRussiaEffective foreign policymaking

Vietnam at warWhen is it right to fight?Leading the International Crisis GroupWhat makes for successful NGOsLessons for preventing deadly conflictStaying optimistic in a dangerous world

Life and death in CambodiaThe horror of Rwanda and the BalkansConceiving the responsibility to protectBirth of a new international normWhat R2P has achievedWhy pessimism is premature

Reliving HiroshimaThe inhumanity of nuclear weaponsAustralias responsesThe Canberra CommissionCo-chairing the AustraliaJapan ICNNDFading of the Obama dreamLessons for frustrated nuclear disarmersChemical weapons

State school scholarship boyMelbourne UniversityOxfordTeaching and learningANU ChancellorThe fish rots from the headChallenges for Australian universitiesWhat makes for a great university

What motivates politiciansFrom beginning to burnoutWhat makes for effective politiciansWhat makes for successful political leadersHawke and KeatingWhat makes for successful governmentsDemocracy and its current discontentsBeating populismThe necessity of politicsDont mourn, organize!

Preface

This is an account of one persons efforts, sometimes partially successful but more often frustrated, to nudge his own country, and where possible the wider international community, in better policy directions. It is a selective political memoir, focusing on the biggest policy themes pursued during the course of a long public life, recalling some of the characters and incidents, and pain and pressure and exhilaration, experienced along the way, and describing what I think I have learned. While it is as accurate as my memory will allow, it does not purport to be a complete autobiography, which I would not wish to inflict on anyone.

It has been written because I know, not least from the reaction to my published Cabinet Diary, which retails life at the ministerial coalface during just two early years of the HawkeKeating government, that there are many with a real interest in the particular subject areas I describelaw and justice, human rights, governance and international relationsand in how public policymaking works at home and internationally.

It has been written also to try at least partly to answer those many people over the years who have asked me and my colleagues why we, who choose public careers, do what we do. None of us is immune from what has been memorably called HPtFtUthe Human Propensity to Fuck things Up. What is it in our genes or mental wiring, or experience, that makes us expose ourselves to the inevitable stresses, and almost certain pain, of public life? And why do at least some of us go on doing it when so often our hopes and expectations are disappointed? My colleagues in politics, diplomacy and the world of non-governmental organisations and advocacy, will all have their own stories, and explanations. I can only speak for myself.

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