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Alan Stockdale - the Victorian reforms and the Deakin Lecture

(From an address by Robert Clark, MP to the 1999 Alfred Deakin Lecture Trust dinner.)

11 August, 1999

I was most honoured when I was asked on behalf of the Trustees of the Alfred Deakin Lecture Trust to give the after-dinner address on the occasion of the 1999 Alfred Deakin Lecture by Victoria’s Treasurer and Minister for Multimedia, Alan Stockdale.

My admiration and respect for Alan Stockdale are not something that I have had to develop as a requirement of being his Parliamentary Secretary; rather they preceded it and perhaps even contributed to my good fortune in being appointed to serve in that capacity.

The Victorian reforms

In tonight’s lecture we have heard, from the man who has been its main intellectual driving force, a clear, lucid and forceful statement of the logic, the actions and the achievements of what, in my totally unbiased opinion, has been one of the most successful reformist governments in the Western world.

It is true of course that Victoria has in its reforms drawn on the trail blazing experiences of governments overseas. But is also true that the Victorian Government has carried free market reforms of government activities further than almost any other. The highly competitive privatisation model implemented for the energy industry is probably the best known of these reforms. But history is likely to regard the Government’s budget sector reforms as of at least as great a significance.

The UK Conservative government was wide reaching in its privatisations, but in essence used the proceeds of privatisation to cover its budget deficits. The Reagan and Bush governments might have cut taxes and revived the spirit of enterprise in the US, but they, also, did not bring their budget deficits under control.

By contrast, the Victorian government has applied all of the proceeds of its privatisations to discharging debt and liabilities, and has relied on revenue and outlay measures to turn a current account deficit of over 7% of current outlays – and projected to go even higher - into a sustainable operating surplus.

Furthermore, the Victorian reform process involved the Government in shedding some 44,000 jobs, or over 20% of the budget sector workforce, commencing at a time when the State’s unemployment rate stood at around 11.6%.

But in a striking vindication of the merits of the reform agenda, this did not result in State unemployment going through the roof. Unemployment rose briefly to peak at 12.7%, but then proceeded to fall to around 7.4% today. From almost 2 percentage points above the national average, it is now neck and neck with the national average. The reason for this seemingly perverse outcome? The confidence effect of having a government that could properly manage its affairs, and lift the spectre of continued economic depression and future taxation increases from the back of business, far outweighed any short term Keynesian macroeconomic effect.

Furthermore, this downsizing was not simply a hairy-chested exercise of budget balancing bravado. Not only did it take place without major adverse impact on the quantity or quality of the outputs of the Victorian public sector; as the Treasurer pointed out in the lecture earlier this evening, in many areas it was accompanied by increased levels of service, as structural and management reforms delivered massive productivity increases. And of course, as the Treasurer has also pointed out, once the debt burden was removed, even measured in terms of dollars spent, the Government has been able significantly to exceed the service levels of its predecessor.

It is of course easy to say all that now, now that that part of the job has been done. But it was not such an easy thing to say with the task still in front of the Government, and with 100,000 demonstrators in the street. The fact that the Government and its Treasurer were both willing and able to see it through is an indication of the intellectual rigour and discipline with which they had prepared for their task – a rigour and discipline which has been manifest in tonight’s lecture.

The Alfred Deakin Lecture - an intellectual beacon

Tonight’s lecture also upholds the finest traditions of the Alfred Deakin Lecture Trust.

Australia, unfortunately, does not have a strong history of public policy debate at an intellectual level. We are masters of the rough and tumble, knock 'em down and drag 'em out debate, and one has to admit that we have been reasonably good at practical outcomes despite our lack of finesse.

But the lack of a great intellectual tradition of public policy debate shows in the carping negativity of much of our published political commentary, and in the narrowness, dogmatism and almost unbroken uniformity of the political and social perspectives which colour our major media.

The extent to which we lag some other nations in our ability to carry on a broad, reasoned and measured public dialogue on political issues is now becoming obvious with increasing painfulness, as the Internet makes easily and quickly available to us much of the finest of overseas public debate.

We can only hope that, just as increasing globalisation has broken down the barriers to physical goods which often operated to preserve shoddy Australian products, and has led us to demonstrate that we really are capable of producing first class products when pressed, so to the Internet will apply the pressure of competition to some of the second class purveyors of policy debate in this country.

In the meantime, the Alfred Deakin Lecture Trust has been one of the noble beacons of light which has shone out amidst the general gloom. Looking back over past years, one sees a steady stream of notable Australians, and the occasional overseas lecturer, putting their perspective on the big issues of their time:

• Malcolm Fraser, back in 1971, then simply the Member for Wannon - painting his vision "Towards 2000; Challenge to Australia" and providing the original source for that memorable phrase that "life is not meant to be easy"
• Professor Michael Howard of Oxford University, with a learned and intelligent critique in 1984 of the moral and practical issues involved in calls for nuclear disarmament
• John Howard in 1986 stating his vision for Australia, with themes which we now see reflected in the current Federal Coalition Government - support for individual freedom, the family, industrial relations reform and limited government
• Ron Castan QC in 1987, raising questions about technology and personal privacy of the sort which Governments around the world are still grappling with today
• Senator Chris Puplick in 1989, advocating the role of the market in solving environmental problems
• Nick Greiner in 1990, arguing that modern Liberalism is "an empirical, results-oriented, people-oriented, anti-ideological philosophy" in a post-ideological age

to mention just a few of many illustrious lecturers.

The Alfred Deakin lecturers have been a diverse group of people. I expect most of us here tonight would probably disagree with what some of them have had to say – perhaps at times even passionately disagree. But the great strength of the Deakin Lecture is that it has provided a platform – one of only a limited number of such platforms available in Australia - on which important issues can be raised and discussed in a lucid, measured, fair and reasonable way and in the genuine hope of advancing knowledge and persuading others; rather than in a way which treats arguments simply as weapons with which to beat an opponent over the head during combat over pre-decided policy stances, fought in 8 second television grabs.

Alan Stockdale and the Deakin Lecture

Tonight of course we have with us in the one person both this year’s lecturer and one of the founders of the lecture series itself.

Alan Stockdale commenced at Melbourne University after completing his secondary education at Melbourne High School. A former teacher tells me that even at high school he was a person willing to question conventional economic wisdom, something which has certainly carried over into his adult life.

At University, he was from 1965 to 1966 President of the Melbourne University Liberal Club, as well as President of the Debating Society and Chairman of the Debating Union.

It was during that time that he helped establish the Alfred Deakin Lecture Trust.

In fact, in my files I have a draft of the Trust Deed which established the Trust. It is dated July 1966, and the parties to it are all people who have subsequently gone on make their names in public life. The settlor - Colin George Polites, Law Student. The Trustees - David Alistair Kemp, Tutor, Alan Robert Stockdale, Law Student, and Clifford Leslie Pannam, Senior Lecturer in Law.

Since that time, the covers of the various Alfred Deakin Lectures, with their lists of the trustees and patrons of the Trust, have marked Alan Stockdale’s subsequent career – from Industrial Officer, to Barrister, to Member of Parliament.

It is not surprising that there has been a continuing nexus between the Alfred Deakin Lecture Trust and Alan Robert Stockdale. The former, as I have said, has been an institution of ongoing value to intellectual life in this country. The latter has been one of the driving forces in Australia of the worldwide intellectual revolution which, over last 25 years or so, has dramatically transformed our lives for the better.

I have, on a recent occasion at which a number here tonight were present, described how this intellectual revolution had its genesis in the reaction to the combination of left-wing radicalism and tired and timid traditional institutions of the mid to late ‘60’s and the early ‘70’s. As one who commenced my university life in 1975, I was fortunate that by then the left wing onslaught had spent much of its initial force. How much harder it must have been to stand against the tide in the mid 1960s, with left wing activists going from strength to strength and seemingly carrying all before them. Indeed, the official history of the Melbourne University Liberal Club records that inaugural Deakin Lecture was marked by disruption and abuse by left wing protestors.

Yet Alan Stockdale in his student days was one of a small band who did stand up to the left, who not only kept the liberal flag flying on campus, but also established an enduring institution that has outlasted all those 1960s radicals.

Alan Stockdale - conviction and achievement

Nor, fortunately for all of us, did his contribution to public life end on campus. That was of course only the beginning. As an industrial relations practitioner and barrister, he was a vigorous opponent of a policy of appeasement towards trade unions. As a Member of Parliament, from the time he first entered Parliament in 1985, he has advocated the need for far reaching reform of the structure of government, not as change for change’s sake, but out of a passionate conviction that it would lead to a better life for Victorians. It is a passion he has pursued for the whole of his 14 years in State Parliament, 14 years in which has served continuously as either Treasurer or Shadow Treasurer of our State.

The Treasurer has devoted much of tonight’s lecture to placing on record the rationale and the results of the reform program undertaken by the Victorian Government. But he has done so with characteristic modesty. If one regards our Premier as the captain of our ship of state, up there on the deck, steering us through shoals of reefs, fending off pirates and inspiring and exhorting crew and passengers to further efforts, then Alan Stockdale has been the ship’s chief engineer. Often below decks and out of sight, but nonetheless delivering the enormous power and drive that has kept the ship of state surging forward since 1992. What is more, before that ship even set sail on its adventure, Alan Stockdale was one of the principal designers and builders of the powerful policy and implementational engines that have served us so well on our voyage.

Free enterprise - not sufficient, but definitely necessary

Nothing in life stays still. Once people fulfil their needs at one level, they move on the next. Thus, we are starting to see around the Western world policy debate focus increasingly on the social factors underlying both free enterprise and community wellbeing generally, a policy debate to which the Treasurer referred in his lecture.

But in taking up these worthwhile issues, we must never lose sight of what has put us in the position where are able to do so. History is littered with examples of communities and individuals who start to take for granted the factors on which their wellbeing is based. Much of the Old Testament is devoted to that very theme. For a more contemporary example, we need only look at our neighbours across the Tasman, held up to us as the shining example for Australia 5 years ago, but now having been on an extended tea break for several years.

If there is one central theme that permeates tonight’s lecture, one single message that we need to take away with us, it is that while free enterprise is by no means a sufficient condition for providing most people in a society with the opportunity for human fulfillment, it is unarguably a necessary condition. Wherever future debate may take us, we must never lose sight of that message.

The Stockdale legacy - ideas, and an irrefutable practical demonstration

Reformers can leave two enduring legacies. The first is their ideas. The second, even better, is a demonstration that those ideas work. From his 14 years in Parliament and Government in Victoria, Alan Stockdale has left us both.

Even beyond the enormous benefits which the reforms have brought to present day Victorians, the value of his legacy lies in the example it provides. It is an irrefutable practical demonstration of the fact that with integrity, with the courage of convictions, with the insistence on adhering to principled policy, and with dogged attention to translating principles into practice, the vision of a free, open and prosperous society can be achieved.

Even if, heaven forbid, a future government were to unwind much of what has been achieved to date, nothing can take away from the fact that Alan Stockdale has shown us that it can be done. For this he has secured a worthy place in the history of ideas.

Sustaining the vision

As the clock now clicks closer to the start of the year 2000, and as the time draws ever nearer to when we will lose Alan Stockdale as the Treasurer of this State, the best tribute that can be paid to him by those of us here tonight who share his vision and are committed to its success is to make sure that it is sustained. Sustained against the carping critics and left wing social engineers. Sustained against fading memories and complacency. And sustained as a vital and integral component of the free, just, open, prosperous and fulfilling society which is the true and proper goal of all public life.