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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-07-29 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

Stretton, Prof. H.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:25): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement. Vale Professor Hugh Stretton.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: It is with great sadness that I note that Professor Hugh Stretton, one of South Australia's most distinguished citizens, passed away on 18 July. His passing is a great loss to this state. Historian, economist, thinker and public intellectual, Hugh Stretton made an exemplary contribution to the civic, intellectual and moral life of South Australia and Australia.

Hugh Stretton was born in Melbourne in 1924 and educated at Beaumaris State School, Mentone Grammar and Scotch College. He studied law and classics at the University of Melbourne, which was interrupted by military service, history at Oxford University and political science at Princeton as a visiting fellow.

He was appointed a fellow of Balliol College Oxford in 1948 and taught at Oxford between 1948 and 1954. Clearly, he might have led a stellar international career elsewhere, but he chose instead to make Adelaide his home. Stretton's appointments here include Emeritus Professor of History, University of Adelaide, and visiting research fellow in economics, University of Adelaide.

His numerous highly-regarded books gave him an impressive international profile. In 1969 The Times Literary Supplement described his book The Political Sciences as 'a work of near genius'. However, it was the lasting influence of his 1970 publication Ideas for Australian Cities that continues to resonate today. For many years he led Australia's public conversation around creating cities and suburbs that were civilised places where people could make meaningful and satisfying lives for themselves.

This was a man who believed that it was possible and desirable to make a happier Australia. He believed that the very best of our collective generosity of spirit could be harnessed to build a truly egalitarian country in which all of us could reach our fullest potential. He was not at all fazed by the size of this task. In short, he had a colossal faith in human endeavour. He had been through the rebuilding of Australia after the Second World War and saw every reason for an upward trajectory that saw the creation of our prosperous, peaceful, shared suburbs and cities continue.

He was right: modern, safe and stable Australia is a brilliant creation and we need that optimism still. Now, more than ever, as South Australia faces a changing world, we need the spirit of Hugh Stretton. The defining qualities of his long and productive life were his great generosity and wisdom. Those who were fortunate enough to receive his wise counsel gained the deeply considered insights of a razor-sharp intellect tempered with a remarkable gentleness and compassion.

The tributes that have flowed since Hugh Stretton's passing recognise this unique and deeply humane quality to his life and work. He was never an ivory tower academic. Hugh Stretton always mixed the theoretical and the applied. He served on the South Australian Housing Trust for 20 years, including 17 years as deputy chair which, in turn, gave him a detailed practical understanding of housing policy.

One frequently quoted 'Strettonism' was his gentle reply to a strident employee of the South Australian Housing Trust who asserted that 'there should be no private housing at all, just public housing'. Hugh apparently replied, 'No, we need them to keep us efficient and they need us to keep them honest.' Such balanced insight into the relative merits of the public and private sectors is sadly missing today in the often combative public debates on these issues.

Apart from the substantial record of his writings and policy work there will, however, be a physical legacy to his life: the about-to-be-opened Stretton Centre at the Playford Alive Town Park of Munno Para. The Stretton Centre will embody much of the way that Hugh Stretton lived his life—a mix of high quality research and applied practical action that will connect people across government, industry and community, with a view to making a better place for Australians to live, work and play. One of the best possible ways in which Hugh Stretton's legacy can be honoured is to support the Stretton Centre with its endeavours, and we wish them all the very best in their efforts. Our sincere condolences are extended to his wife Pat and his four children.

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