HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-02-09 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

Condolence

Bannon, Hon. Dr J.C.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:02): By leave, I move:

That the House of Assembly expresses its deep regret at the death of Hon. Dr John Charles Bannon AO, Premier and former member of the House of Assembly, and places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious service; and as a mark of respect to his memory the sitting of the house be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

On 13 December 2015, we lost a man of exceptional integrity and energy with the passing of Dr John Bannon AO, the Premier from 1982 to 1992. As his family noted on the day he left this world, John was 'a marathon runner to the last', making the most of every minute and living a life full of purpose and faith, of intellectual inquiry and public service. His leadership of the state—his period as South Australia's longest-serving Labor premier—was characterised by integrity, professionalism and purpose. His legacy is all around us to see and appreciate in 2016.

In many ways, John personified that mixture of styles and qualities that is South Australia—somewhat conservative in appearance and manner yet progressive and cultured. Like, I am sure, all members, and as I did at the wake held at Adelaide Oval, I formally extend my condolences to Angela Bannon and the entire Bannon family.

John Charles Bannon was born in Bendigo, Victoria on 7 May 1943. He was schooled at St Peters College, where his father Charles was an arts master, and he won the Tennyson Medal for studies in English and was school vice captain and school prefect in 1961. While earning arts and law degrees at the University of Adelaide in the early 1960s, he demonstrated energy, ambition and precocious talent, not least through his love of amateur theatre.

His lifelong friend and political colleague Chris Sumner recalled John striding purposefully through the university union cloisters—'flowing flax-coloured hair, be-suited as always and carrying a furled umbrella'. Noting his ability as a debater and a student politician, Chris also remembered him on his feet at the Union Hall vigorously demolishing an opponent's arguments at a student meeting.

John became an industrial advocate at the Australian Workers Union and a staffer with Clyde Cameron, a then minister in the Whitlam government. This latter position gave him a front-row seat in one of the most eventful and controversial periods in Australian political history. We can only imagine the impact those turbulent times made on John Bannon and his approach to day-to-day political management.

After first entering this place in 1977 as the member for Ross Smith and holding a series of junior portfolios in the Dunstan and Corcoran governments, he led a very effective ALP opposition from 1979. As a parliamentarian, John focused on practically improving people's lives rather than the heavy matters of ideology or political philosophy. This was evidenced in his first speech in this house made on 12 October 1977 which largely concerned unemployment.

His government, which took office in 1982 and included an impressive front bench, complemented the new era of ALP governments of Neville Rann and Bob Hawke, and operated in marked contrast to that of Don Dunstan. In the 1992 book entitled The Bannon Decade, Flinders University academic Andrew Parkin writes that John's government was:

…regarded for most of its tenure as a competent financial manager under the leadership of a prudent and parsimonious Premier…Far removed from Dunstan's flamboyant emotionalism and theatrical flair, Bannon instead projected a careful, methodical, low-key and cautious image.

I think he could be compared to the opening batsman in a test match: patient, risk averse, technically sound and determined to build a solid foundation. Nevertheless, there were many highlights across John Bannon's long and well put together innings in government. Let me list just a few:

the passage of far-reaching legislation in the areas of equal opportunity, workers safety and occupational health and safety;

electoral reform, including the introduction of four-year terms for this chamber;

the granting of Aboriginal land rights at Maralinga;

the establishment of new housing developments at places like Golden Grove, and the pursuit of urban consolidation of the kind that occurred at the site of the old Rowley Park Speedway;

parole reform and the provision of greater support for victims of crime;

the formation of the University of South Australia;

the signing in October 1990 of an agreement for friendly relations between South Australia and the Italian region of Campania;

laws prohibiting the clearance of native vegetation;

the banning of tobacco advertising;

the decriminalisation of minor marijuana possession;

the construction of Australia's first convention centre;

the Entertainment Centre;

the magnificent Bicentennial Conservatory;

a huge increase in year 12 retention rates and outstanding work in early childhood development; and

the creation of a better and more socially equitable health service, partly through a focus on mental health, drug and alcohol problems.

Of course, it was not all plain sailing for John Bannon. The multifunction polis never really gained public support or made it off the ground. The scrimber project in the in the South-East failed, and there were heated battles within the ALP at the national level, including with regard to the approval of the Roxby Downs uranium mine. There were long-running and sometimes emotional controversies. These included plans for major tourism and resort projects at Wilpena Pound, Glenelg, Sellicks Beach, Mount Lofty and, of course, the closure of Marineland at West Beach.

It is a sad and cruel irony for a man widely respected for his sound management and careful oversight of public funds that John Bannon's premiership will always be inextricably tied to the collapse of the State Bank. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he found himself in an extremely difficult position. Though the operations of the bank were certainly within his bailiwick, he relied upon the advice of bank executives and took what is described as an appropriate arm's-length approach.

In a recent News Limited column, David Penberthy wrote that in his view John was a victim of the times, the freewheeling days when people such as Alan Bond and Christopher Skase were king in an immature internationalisation of our finance sector. He wrote:

At the height of this laissez-faire period, the idea of a Labor premier with no business background, telling the supposedly smart guys at the state bank how to run their affairs is fanciful revisionism. Bannon would have been laughed out of town by the big end of town as some latter-day Salvador Allende…The truth was, the bank had covertly run off its axis through bad borrowing practices, over which the government had no control. Bannon was more patsy than perpetrator in that $3.15 billion debacle.

But it is true that the cost of the bank's bailout had a terrible detrimental impact on the state's finances and on the lives of individuals. As the royal commission found, serious errors were made. In his capacity as treasurer, John was ultimately responsible. This was something he never sought to deny, to avoid or to minimise. He neither publicly complained nor appeared outwardly bitter. He took it on the chin.

While I know that the prominence given to these events in the eulogies concerning John Bannon cause enormous pain to his family, in my view it should be some comfort to them to know that this was his finest demonstration of his character. His acceptance of responsibility was a necessary part of the healing process for our state and, indeed, for our party. That John Bannon was the leader of a competent government, was a conservative treasurer and yet was responsible for financial losses on a massive scale represented a great contradiction. These apparently contradictory facts are undeniable and prevent us from reaching a simple, neat reckoning of his time in office; they will forever sit side by side. As John himself suggested, history and the people of South Australia will make their ultimate judgement.

Since John Bannon's death and over the Christmas-New Year period, I have spent some time thinking about his decade as Premier and the things he achieved. We see now, in 2016, he was ahead of his time. He recognised that change—big change—was coming to South Australia and that we should anticipate it rather than be overwhelmed by it. He endeavoured to diversify the state's economy and, in particular, move us up the value chain in the field of manufacturing. It is true that the situation regarding employment, which John Bannon the parliamentarian was concerned about from day one, remains an acute concern for this state. At the same time, however, many of the good things we enjoy today and that we are seeking to build upon have more than an echo in the work of his government.

For instance, the meeting I just had a few hours ago with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries about the prospect of building the Future Submarine project here in South Australia would not have even taken place if it were not for John securing the Collins class submarine work in South Australia. We might not be running world-class sporting events, such as last month's Tour Down Under and the upcoming V8 Supercars event, if we had not gained the experience that came from hosting Australia's Formula One Grand Prix in the 1980s and 1990s. We would not be revitalising the Riverbank Precinct from such a solid foundation if the Bannon government had not opened the way for the Adelaide Casino and Convention Centre through what was at the time called the ASER development.

I certainly would not be preparing to visit the Chinese province of Shandong in April and celebrate the 30th anniversary of our sister state relationship if John had not lifted our collective sights and reached out to the People's Republic all those years ago. It would have been appropriate for John to attend those celebrations and be acknowledged for his endeavours. I was, though, glad to see John acknowledged at a special event when we had the Party Secretary for the Shandong province late last year, where he was widely acknowledged and appreciated for his efforts. As I suggested at the start, his efforts have come to fruition in so many ways, and we owe him a great deal.

I wish to end my remarks this afternoon by saying a little about John Bannon's personal qualities. Even at the pinnacle of his career, when he was popular and widely respected in the community and had achieved so much, he remained self-effacing and fun. He was the kind of person who, despite being the number one ticketholder at the North Adelaide footy club, preferred to sit in the outer at Prospect Oval than the grandstand. His unloading of his own luggage after a long overseas journey surprised fellow travellers and spoke to his great humility. He loved tending to the bees he kept in his backyard at Prospect. He enjoyed getting together with his old university mates upstairs at Chesser Cellars, where they would have long, jovial lunches. Sometimes, in December, under John's direction, they would sing Christmas carols from his old song book.

One of his former staff members, Stephen Marlow, recounted recently how, on an official visit to China, John caused a minor security scare by emerging from his hotel in his favourite blue singlet and black shorts for his morning run. People who, moments before, had appeared to be pedestrians, vendors and street sweepers suddenly showed their true colours as undercover security personnel and sought to stop him in his tracks, but he smiled politely and raced off, leaving security puffing in his wake.

As his daughter Victoria said in her eulogy, at home he was something of the class clown. He would always make time for bike rides, visits to the zoo or Magic Mountain and her netball matches. He would also perform breathtaking daredevil stunts like climbing onto the roof in thongs and singlet to clear gutters in a thunderstorm, or acts of secret do-gooding such as guerrilla gardening, where he would sneak into public parks under the cover of darkness to plant a few seedlings in unsightly bare patches.

What stood out most to me was his amazing resilience and generosity of spirit, his constant desire to contribute and to be part of the common good and take part. We saw this post retirement in his membership of the boards of ABC, SACA, the Stadium Management Authority and his seven years as master of Saint Mark's College. At a time in his life when most of us would have been content to put up our feet, John completed a PhD at Flinders and contributed to the work of that university, including through the establishment of the Bannon collection within its library. It was entirely unsurprising that on Australia Day in 2007 John was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to politics and to the South Australian Parliament, to history, particularly through researching and publishing in the subject area of Australian Federation, and to the community through sporting, cultural and welfare organisations.

When I first became a minister for local government in 2002, I sought his counsel as a former minister in that portfolio. I greatly valued the advice and mentoring he offered in the subsequent years, always offered without fanfare, generously and wisely. Based on his fascination with Australian history and the challenges he dealt with as Premier, he did a lot of valuable work as part of the expert panel on the reform of commonwealth-state relations. Despite being in very poor health and having difficulty travelling interstate, he shared this work with the Prime Minister, me and state and territory leaders very late last year, and delivered a final report in the week before his death.

On the last occasion I saw John he spoke to me with great passion about Federation reform and urged me to press ahead and never tire on that front. In a similar way, John summoned the energy just two days before his death to officially open an exhibition of his father's artwork. He was determined to attend the inaugural day-night test match contested by Australia and New Zealand at Adelaide Oval, which he managed to achieve.

In all things, as his daughter also said, John had a sense of duty and obligation to always follow through on a promise, a commitment, no matter how inconvenient it may become. Mr Speaker, we lost a great South Australian late last year with the passing of John Charles Bannon. The range and number of people who attended his state funeral, the warmth of their reminisces, showed just how he was loved and respected. It is true that a good and fulfilling life is one served with purpose. If that is the case, then John's life was rich and successful beyond measure. I doubt that I will know a more decent, kind and wise man in public life, one who never stopped working for South Australia.

During the final visit that John made to my office I had fun showing him a remnant of his time occupying that office. There still amazingly is an electronic clocking box in the corner of the office. I took John to look at it and showed him that his name was still there and he was still clocked on.

Mr Speaker, on behalf of my parliamentary colleagues on this side of the chamber and members of the Australian Labor Party, I say: John, you can rest now, rest in peace, my friend.

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): I rise today to second the motion that the Premier has put forward today and to place on the record the sincere condolences of the South Australian Liberal Party on the passing of the Hon. Dr John Charles Bannon AO. We extend our sympathies to his family.

Dr Bannon had a long career in public life and one that left a lasting impact upon the state of South Australia. He started his life in Bendigo, where he was born in 1943. He received his education at St Peter's College in my electorate, where his father was the art master.

After finishing school, John Bannon went on to graduate from the University of Adelaide with degrees in arts and law. It was at the university where he became heavily involved in campus life and student politics, which eventually led to him becoming President of the National Union of Students.

After graduation, he worked as an adviser for Labor minister Clyde Cameron in the tumultuous Whitlam government. Dr Bannon first entered the South Australian parliament in 1977 during the twilight years of the Dunstan government. He was only 34 at the time but, despite his young age, was quickly promoted to cabinet with his responsibilities including community development, ethnic affairs, local government and recreation and sport.

Dr Bannon was elevated to the role of opposition leader following Labor's electoral defeat to the David Tonkin-led Liberals at the 1979 state election. After just one term in opposition, John Bannon led his party to victory at the 1982 election, becoming South Australia's 39th premier as well as treasurer.

Dr Bannon's premiership contrasted with the social reforms of the Dunstan era by putting an emphasis on broadening the state's economic foundations. While Premier, Dr Bannon oversaw the first Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Adelaide and the construction of the Casino and the Convention Centre.

As Premier, Dr Bannon was able to lead the South Australian Labor Party to three successive victories, becoming the longest-serving Labor premier in this state's history. Those who worked with him described him as 'tireless' and 'dedicated'—traits which were evidenced by his love of competing in marathons, of which he completed 28 in total.

As is sometimes the unfortunate nature of politics, you are often remembered for your worst moment rather than for your many years of public service or sound policy development. Dr Bannon was of course at the helm during the State Bank collapse in 1991, which ended with him taking ultimate responsibility and retiring from parliament in the following year. It was the ultimate mea culpa, and I believe it was indeed the honourable thing to do in the circumstances.

In the subsequent months since Dr Bannon's death, there have been a number of notable Australians who have commented on his actions in the wake of the State Bank crisis. Former prime minister Bob Hawke described him as being, and I quote, 'a man of total decency, enormous capacity and very self-effacing…[who] accepted responsibility beyond the bounds of necessity in the case of the bank.' I am sure that history will reflect upon this with the benefit of hindsight.

After parliament, Dr Bannon continued his involvement in many cultural, community and sporting groups. He achieved his doctorate through Flinders University, held an adjunct professorship at the University of Adelaide and held residential fellowships in London and Edinburgh. He also served as an honorary fellow and the master at St Mark's College for seven years. He became an expert on federalism and, in particular, on the life of Sir John Downer who he described as the 'father of Federation'. Only four days before he died, he travelled to Sydney to meet with Prime Minister Turnbull to discuss the federalism white paper.

On a personal note, I had the great fortune and privilege of meeting with Dr Bannon on a number of occasions through one of his other great loves, that of cricket. He was a board member for Cricket Australia and also for the SACA. On all of those occasions where our paths crossed, he would seek me out at one of these functions, and we would always end up in a wonderful conversation. He was a true gentleman, there is no doubt about that. In all of these conversations, I found him to be a particularly thoughtful and engaged person, clearly with a great continuing love for South Australia and for Australian politics.

John Bannon was Premier of South Australia for nine years and 299 days—a record surpassed only by Sir Thomas Playford. His service to South Australia was immense. I know that he will long loom large in the history of the South Australian Labor Party. He is survived by his wife Angela, daughter Victoria and stepson Dylan. I pass my heartfelt condolences on to them and to Dr Bannon's many, many friends at this very sad time. Vale, John Bannon.

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:24): I will be brief in my contribution, as I do not wish to traverse the many matters of detail that were canvassed by the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition. I just wanted to say, from my perspective, I had the privilege of knowing John Bannon from a period in my teenage years when he was working with the then federal government. As circumstances unfolded, it turns out that I presently represent in the seat of Enfield an area which is very similar to the seat of Ross Smith, which of course was his seat when he was a member of parliament.

There are so many facets to the life of John Bannon, many of which have been canvassed, but he really was a remarkable man in so many different ways: his obvious engagement and interest in politics (both practical and theoretical), his interest in the law, and his interest in history. I am reminded, Mr Speaker, as you perhaps would recall, of his particular fascination, at least at one period of time, with Charles Cameron Kingston.

He did some considerable amount of research into Charles Cameron Kingston. I remember having a number of conversations with him about this gentleman, whose bust appears outside of this room. It was evident to me, after my conversations with John, that Kingston was a man who would have been very interesting to have met, but John appeared, through his research, to almost know Kingston personally. He was able to sort of recount things about him as if he was talking about an intimate friend who he could pick up the phone and talk to. He really was a passionate historian.

Obviously, at the end of his premiership, he confronted the terrible issue of the bank, but I have been reliably informed by some who were associated with his period as Premier—that long period as Premier—that he was extremely careful, actually, both in his personal habits and in the habits of the government, to the point where I have heard some of them complain about having sandwiches at cabinet lunches instead of a decent feed, like apparently they used to get earlier on. He was certainly not a profligate fellow by any means.

Ultimately, in the end—and I think this has been observed by others—for him to willingly absorb all of the pain and the opprobrium and the guilt, if that is an appropriate word, for the debacle of the State Bank without complaining, on behalf of not only the Labor Party but the people of South Australia, and to go through all those additional years not departing the scene, not running away, just quietly getting on with being a participant in the life of the state (a very active one at that), I think is an enormous testament to John's character. We have lost a great South Australian and a great man, and I think when ultimately some historical account can be put together about John, the way in which he has conducted himself, not only during his period of office but post that period, will speak volumes about his enormous integrity. My condolences to his family.

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (14:27): I am very sad to be part of this debate, but I also feel that I have been very fortunate in that I had contact with Dr John Bannon over many years. Certainly when he was a backbencher and opposition leader, he as the member for Ross Smith was very supportive, like Don Dunstan, of the Flinders University Labor Club. As much as it seemed like a very obscure connection, he would actually make time to come and see us, always in his suit. I remember a couple of times asking him if perhaps he had some casual clothes, and he said, 'No, I always wear my suit. You never know when you may be called on to speak to the media or do something.' I must say, he did look rather out of place up at Flinders University, certainly in those days. It has probably changed now.

He was also very understanding, because although I was an adult student, I was also a student politician, so he understood why it was important that we did participate as Flinders University in the National Council of ALP Students. Not many people would have understood that, but he did. Also, when I was later the general secretary of the students' association, he understood that that was an important thing for a Labor supporter to do as well. In those days, there were people of much further left-leaning politics who dominated Flinders, but the progressive Labor Club marched on. Also, the Australian Union of Students: he, like me, had been an executive member of the Australian Union of Students, so I did not have to explain to him why this was an important agenda. Most people do not get student politics, and they are probably the better for it, but he did understand what it was all about.

I was very fortunate, because after Dr Tonkin—who I must say was an excellent boss—Premier John Bannon was also responsible for the Working Women's Centre in an indirect way, through the women's advisory unit. I know that my friends from the women's advisory unit, including women's advisers like Carol Treloar, very fondly remember their time working directly with John Bannon as their boss. He was also someone who was very much involved in the work of the women's information switchboard (as it was called), the women's health centres, and the whole portfolio for which the women's advisory unit was responsible.

I must say that, while the Working Women's Centre was a very small unit in those days, John would actually come to many of our events. It did not seem to worry him in the slightest that he was the only man at a lot of those events. I do not even think he noticed that that was the case, because he had no problems with dealing with us as women. He was quite at home, which I must say was quite admirable, in the migrant women's events that we had in those days. In the early 1980s, the women were very determined to make sure they lobbied the Premier about issues that they thought were of concern. They had absolutely no inhibitions about making sure they cornered him and talked to him about issues.

John Bannon supported the very important repetition injury campaign; there was not a lot known about repetition injury in those days. He also supported our equal pay campaigns, including our maternity leave campaign—in those days, it was maternity leave, which later went on, I am pleased to say, to parental leave—and equal opportunity and antidiscrimination legislation. We, along with the women's advisory unit, really felt that we had a Premier that understood—as did Dr Tonkin, as I said—why it was important to have these services and campaigns.

Also during that time, as a trade union official—I know many of fellow trade union officials would want me to say this—there were a number of advances in the Public Service in particular with regard to industrial provisions. A lot of those things went to the industrial commission and actually formed part of some of the entitlements that public servants have today—things that I think we take for granted.

John Bannon was also involved with some of the major trailblazing industrial legislation that we had in South Australia in the 1980s. This was along with the late Jack Wright and the late Frank Blevins, who I must say I also had the honour of working with. This industrial relations legislation is obviously still important today. The industrial health, safety and welfare act that some of the trade union officials in here will remember having to defend and use, and the workers rehabilitation and compensation act, obviously come to mind as really important legislation that formed a template for other places in Australia and New Zealand.

Other legislative changes included adoption leave, which was a fairly radical provision in those days. Now, although there is not a lot of adopting that happens, we understand why that provision was important for new parents who were in the paid workforce. With termination, change and redundancy, which is sadly something that we are having to look at again now, they were making sure that people did not leave a job with absolutely nothing. There were lots of other test cases that took place during this time, supported by the Bannon government.

Later in life, John Bannon was a supporter of the Trade Union Choir. He understood why that was a good thing, and came to some of our performances. I think some of his family will remember some of those performances as well; we appreciated them being there. He also supported the local labour history group, which has gone from strength to strength. We had the opportunity, through the labour history group, to hear about some of the study that John had been doing at Flinders University, particularly leading up to his doctorate, and after that as a lecturer. He supported the Junction Theatre Group, which was a work-based theatre group in those days, and the Community Arts Network, which has just closed down after 35 years, I am very sad to report. He understood, again, why it was important to have a peak community arts body in South Australia.

He was kind, supportive, a man of great humour. There are a whole lot of jokes I could tell the house about some of the times, particularly in the industrial arena. He was a very quiet influence on a whole lot of us. I will miss him terribly, but my condolences go to Dr Bannon's family and extended family and friends.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (14:35): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I rise also to talk to this condolence motion. I first knew John Bannon as a young journalist starting out at Adelaide's The News. The things that he did in those first years of his premiership and bringing the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix to South Australia really changed the way in which South Australians thought about our state and gave us a great sense of pride.

I remember that no-one really knew what to expect but we knew that the world was coming to Adelaide for the first time on that scale, probably ever. People were buying tickets just to go down to see what was happening there, and to be anywhere in Adelaide and to hear the roar of those engines that you could hear right across the plain to the north and to the south. The only reason we got that was because John Bannon was a great man at building relationships and going and talking to people.

He met Bernie Ecclestone, I think, in a pub in Surrey where they had their first conversation. They worked on it from there and they built up a great deal of trust between the two of them. The Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, at a time where Formula 1 was in its golden era with Prost, with Senna, with Mansell, and coming hot off the heels of having Alan Jones as a world Formula 1 champion, we had the interest in Australia for the first time in many years in following Formula 1 motor sport. Bernie Ecclestone stuck to his word, stuck to his guns, and said to John Bannon, 'For as long as you're Premier, you'll keep this race in South Australia', and he held true to that.

In 1987 I remember being down at the Colac Hotel in Port Adelaide with John Bannon, Mick Young and Kim Beazley. Kim was up on a chair singing Irish songs by the end of the night. The Good Time Rascals were playing Yellow Submarine. Bob Hawke was there. We were celebrating another great milestone in South Australia's history, the awarding of the contract to build the Collins-class submarines in South Australia—great days indeed for our state being led by a premier who saw the vision to take us to the international level.

In 1989 during the election campaign (which I was one of many journalists covering) I remember being at the Bicentennial Conservatory which John Bannon as Premier opened and which is one of the most significant architectural buildings anywhere in South Australia. It is a pity that it is kind of hidden and out of the way, but it is a stunning building and one that serves a great purpose as well.

But then, of course, we had the State Bank disaster and it was almost a lynch-mob mentality in South Australia in those days with the loss of billions of dollars. That mentality sort of went through the news rooms as well, and some of us journalists at the time were very eager to get out to try to get to the bottom of the story.

The only person who had not slunk off into the shadows and hidden, like people such as Tim Marcus Clark, who would not comment, the person who stood out there and said that the responsibility ended with him, whether it did or not, was John Bannon. I think that all the journalists of those days—and I was talking to John Ferguson who is now the Australian bureau chief in Melbourne but who was The Advertiser's political reporter at the time—every journalist, said that John Bannon was a thoroughly decent man and one of the best politicians they had ever been involved in covering as journalists.

I remember talking to John a few years later, apologising to him for how harsh we were, and, Angela, for the personal effect that had on your family and to his mates like Chris Sumner. It was a hard time and we did go in hard. I remember apologising to John and he said that it was okay, 'You were just doing your job.' I think that we might have been a little over zealous, but it was a big story in South Australia, yet we were doing our job. What a great human being to be on the other side of that and to come through it with that sense of forgiveness to those who were making it hard for his family and friends.

John was a recreation and sport minister (the portfolio that I have now) and I want to get onto the record some of his great achievements. He completed 28 marathons, 11 of them in under three hours and most of those 11 were done whilst he was the Premier and Treasurer of this state. So, he got the work/life balance down to a T, in terms of having time for his family, having time for his health and having time for leading this great state. He was also known for his leg breaks, but probably better known in the cricket arena for the work he did after he stopped bowling. He was a member of the Cricket Australia board and also the SACA. He was a director of the SACA board since 2000 and he was on the Cricket Australia board since 2008, and the Stadium Management Authority since its inception in 2009.

He was always a good person to just ring up to talk about politics and to talk about cricket. Last year, when Cricket Australia was trying to, I use the word 'extort' money out of the states to guarantee that we would have a test match and an Australia Day fixture here, you can imagine that John was not very happy with the direction the sport that he loved was heading and we had a number of conversations about that.

In 2007-08, John Bannon represented SACA in negotiations with the State Library and the Bradman family which resulted in the relocation of the Bradman collection from North Terrace to the Adelaide Oval. He was co-chair of the National Indigenous Cricket Advisory Council, overseeing recent governance changes to Australian cricket. He was an honorary life member of the SACA, which was bestowed on him in 2014 for his lifelong contribution to the game. He was a member of the Lord's Taverners and a life member of the Adelaide Turf Cricket Association and, of course, he made a significant contribution to the Adelaide Oval redevelopment and Australian cricket governance reforms.

The interesting thing is that, when you go down to the Adelaide Oval, you see the names of a lot of politicians on things, but John Bannon was never one to get his name put up on things. So, if you look around you will not find his name there. You will find a lot of others, who may or may not have done as much but whose names are there. John was always that way. He went about his work for the good of the state, for the good of the game and for the good of the people around him.

The last time I saw John was a few days before he died, which was at the Adelaide Oval test match, the first time ever in the world we had had a day/night match with the pink ball, and John was there, as he was at every Adelaide test match, enjoying it. It was also terrific to see him on the Friday night before he died, just two days before he died, opening an art exhibition of the works of his late father. He was a man who ran marathons, who fought hard for his state and stuck up for his people right through to the very last days. To Angela, all the family, Chris and all of John's friends, my deepest condolences.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:43): The first time I voted was the last time John Bannon stood, as our leader, for Premier in 1989 at the state election. I remember the debate at home between my mother and father about whether we would support Heini Becker or whether we would support the Labor candidate, Mr Peake. I do not remember the Labor candidate. I know him now because his son is involved in the party, and he is quite a prominent union official within the SDA.

I remember the discussion at the dinner table the night before the election about why dad was going to vote Labor and mum was looking very forward to, the next day, kicking the government out. I remember the debate became around Mr Bannon personally. Despite my mother's then adamant view that no Labor governments were ever any good, she did believe very passionately that Mr Bannon was a very good and decent man and that, despite being Labor, he was a very good politician. I do not think she voted Labor the next day, but it certainly formed my view about him, given the way my parents, as migrants, who had these two opposing views, and looking at a man from afar, who they had only ever seen on TV or maybe at a multicultural event that he may have attended, that despite her views (politically) she could see the decency in him from afar.

He modernised the Australian Labor Party. That is something that we owe him a great debt for. The leadership between Dunstan and Bannon was very, very different. The Bannon model is more contemporary to today's campaigning techniques and more contemporary to the model the South Australian Labor Party offers its constituency of conservative but progressive thinking and sound management (as much as we possibly can) to ensure that we offer a good economy. What he has taught us is to always keep our eyes on the economy.

Obviously, his legacy will be debated long after we are all gone about how that occurred in the 1980s and early 1990s, but he was passionate about our identity and passionate about who we were. I remember speaking to him just before the 2014 election and he was commenting on how he thought we might or might not go. He saw a lot of similarities between us in 1989 and in 2014. He said many people had written him off as well.

I think, ultimately, what John Bannon says about South Australia is what a lot of our premiers say about South Australia, whether it is Tom Playford, Don Dunstan, John Bannon or even, I think in time, John Olsen. These people have served this state and have punched above their weight exceptionally well. John Bannon did that exceptionally well within the Labor movement and, indeed, during the 1980s. At a time when Labor was at its highest ascendancy across the country, John Bannon was a very powerful force for South Australia and a very powerful advocate for our state. I think we have seen that reflected in subsequent governments, that is, trying to get more for South Australia on a national stage; and that is something he taught us, and taught us well.

I will be honest. I did not know him very well. I only met him a couple of times. We talked about his time as Treasurer and about Treasury and how difficult, and compliant, they can be when they want to be. Ultimately, he was someone who had a passion for service and for that we all owe him a great debt of gratitude. I think history will judge him very kindly. I think he deserves to be judged differently with time and I think he is one of those rare exceptions in politics where the public perception of him is very, very different from what he was actually like and, in the end, he graced this chamber and enriched it and we are better for having had him as our premier than not.

The SPEAKER (14:47): I served in the 47th Parliament with JB. In August 1992, with Terry Roberts calling for his resignation, I became the last Labor MP to publicly express support for his continued premiership. I remember JB as shy and reserved, even on the campaign trail, though he could act and sing and dance and was particularly accomplished with Gilbert and Sullivan.

His rise in politics was unusual for the time but has since become the norm—student politics (including editing the University of Adelaide's student newspaper On Dit), full-time students association job, first university-educated employee at the SA branch of the Australian Workers Union and private secretary to a federal minister. The federal minister for whom JB worked was the Hon. Clyde Cameron, a factional warlord who wielded much more power than any in today's balkanised or, I should say, democratised ALP.

JB, I am told, dressed all through university and his rise in the ALP like his father's generation rather than his contemporaries, for which we should give thanks. He always looked youthful, though, and, shortly after he became leader of the parliamentary Labor Party, I think the then federal deputy leader Lionel Bowen said of him, 'He's a fine boy.'

I joined the ALP the year JB became leader and I recall many years of struggle in trade unions and party sub-branches between those who supported JB and those who supported Peter Duncan. When he became leader of the parliamentary Labor Party after the 1979 election defeat, JB said, 'Those in the party who wanted a new Dunstan were not going to get one with me.' This was a good thing, and his chief of staff Geoff Anderson was there to din it into me and others just what a good thing that was.

In his maiden speech, John Bannon criticised MPs' use of travel and accommodation allowances and he always led by example on that score and set the tone on these matters when he became premier. JB, knowing my interest in history, pointed out to me that it was he who had made the decision to restore the photograph of the so-called 'rats' to the caucus room. I refer to the South Australian Labor leaders who had supported the conscription referendum during the Great War. When JB resigned as Premier in 1992, prime minister Paul Keating said of him:

John Bannon produced and maintained one of the most sound financial positions of any State in the Commonwealth. The State's finances were not put into difficulty by general government spending but rather losses generated by a financial institution which the State owned.

In fact, JB was such a good economic manager in the 1980s that there was talk in 1988 that he would be invited to become Bob Hawke's successor as prime minister. Upon resigning as premier in 1992, JB stayed in parliament on the back bench. It was good to be able to have long conversations with him but his staying was also important to the ALP. In the 1993 state election the Labor candidate for Ross Smith trailed the Liberal candidate on primary votes and was only elected narrowly on Democrat preferences. There is no doubt Labor would have lost a by-election in Ross Smith and probably would have failed to regain the seat at the general election if it had a Liberal Party incumbent.

I should add—and the Deputy Premier alluded to this earlier—that JB managed to talk me into the worst decision I ever made as a minister, though he shares responsibility with the Deputy Premier, Justice Tim Stanley and retired Police Association president Peter Alexander. This arose from JB's interest in the history of Federation. That decision was granting permission to exhume the remains of Charles Cameron Kingston from the family crypt at West Terrace, to DNA test it to see if Charlie had any descendants. I was assured that Charlie would be really chuffed if people knew just how many children he had fathered. I stood against this for almost two years and then foolishly granted the request. No usable DNA was obtained.

I am pleased that JB chose West Terrace as his location to await the day of judgement for if there is life between death and the apocalypse, West Terrace will be the most convivial and interesting place in South Australia to be.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.

Sitting suspended from 14:54 to 15:04.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT