The Australian treasurers: managers and reformers in an evolving role
Creators: name: Hawkins, John Robert
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2017
Subjects: treasurers
finance ministers
Australian political history
Australian economic history
political biography
Andrew Fisher
Joseph Cook
Edward Theodore
Joseph Lyons
Ben Chifley
Arthur Fadden
John Howard
Paul Keating

description: If the prime minister is ‘first among equals’, then arguably the treasurer is now ‘second among equals’. And the treasurer is increasingly the minister most likely to later become prime minister. Yet there is no collective biography of the 39 Australian federal treasurers, such as the volume edited by Michelle Grattan on Australian prime ministers or that by Roy Jenkins on British chancellors. Nor is there a book analysing the office itself. This thesis fills that gap. Inspired by Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, chapters Four to Seven compare and contrast four pairs of contemporary treasurers with similar backgrounds but divergent careers. As the academic literature on political leadership boils down to distinguishing two essential types -- managers and reformers -- the pairs contain one of each. Bookending these core chapters are introductory chapters, providing context, and analytical chapters, drawing lessons from the eight lives studied in depth and the other treasurers. In this way, the thesis is a comparative biography but also a work of political history with implications for political science. The treasurer’s job has changed greatly over time, although some initial responsibilities persist. The thesis traces the development, identifying six eras. Initially the treasurer presided over a book-keeping department, reflecting the Gladstonian tradition of fiscal conservatism. This ended with the Great Depression and the Premiers’ Plan saw a second era where the federal government attempted to regain macroeconomic stability. The White Paper on Full Employment ushered in a third, Keynesian, era which lasted until the mid-1970s oil shocks and subsequent stagflation. A short-lived fourth era of monetarism was followed by the fifth era of economic rationalism. The global financial crisis may have seen a shift to a sixth ‘new Keynesian’ era. This analysis of eras is brought together with the distinction between managers and reformers by adapting Skowronek’s model of ‘political time’ whereby major reformers overthrow the old paradigm, fortunate managers then operate it and unfortunate managers preside over its collapse. The main argument of this thesis is that good treasurers need to be effective and influential and many factors produce these qualities. The job is onerous and complex and what counts as success may be unclear at the time. Treasurers (like prime ministers) need a measure of luck. But three key features stand out as crucial. First, an effective treasurer needs immense political skills and the support of his/her prime minister. The combinations of Curtin/Chifley and Hawke/Keating, and to a lesser extent Bruce/Page, were particularly productive of economic reform. The second crucial relationship is with their department, where treasurers need to harness the technical expertise of its senior officials who may lack political acumen. Successful treasurers build an effective relationship to both develop and accomplish the treasurer’s agenda. The third key element is a matter of timing. Some treasurers such as Theodore and Swan are faced with downturns in the global economy making their job much more difficult. Some treasurers, however, have turned adversity into opportunity and enhanced their reputations in crises – Chifley, and perhaps Keating.