Dr Allan Hawke, AC, one of Australia’s most respected and trusted senior public servants, diplomats and ministerial confidantes, has died in Canberra, aged 74.
A former chief of staff to prime minister Paul Keating, Hawke was educated at the Australian National University, where he obtained a science degree before undertaking a doctorate in philosophy and later became the institution’s chancellor after his extensive public service career.
A ruby league tragic hailing from Queanbeyan, Hawke commanded secretarial posts at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Department of Transport and Regional Services and Secretary of the Department of Defence between 1994 and 2002, then becoming the High Commissioner to New Zealand in 2003.
Hawke then served as ANU Chancellor 2006 to 2008.
Rarely far from the action on or off the field, Hawke’s wide knowledge of the APS, and its challenges made him a highly trusted and practical set of hands when it came to undertaking government reviews and inquiries that spanned portfolios far and wide.
A straight talker with a dry wit and seemingly inexhaustible passion, Hawke arguably helped elevate Canberra from cloistered and somewhat sleepy public service town to a full-throated national destination in its own right through his relentless support of Canberra Raiders.
“Allan was on our board for half of our club’s history which is a great amount of time to dedicate to the club he loved,” Raiders CEO Don Furner said in a tribute.
“Allan was a great strategic thinker and bought respect and stability to our Board, which we badly needed after the Super League war.”
Part of Hawke’s strategic skill set, aside from networking and dogged persuasion, was being able to extract mutually beneficial opportunity from otherwise seemingly intractable challenges.
One of these was brokering a series of sponsorship deals for the Raiders from embattled Chinese telecommunications manufacturing giant Huawei at a time when many potential sponsors baulked at supporting a team from a comparatively small town many Australians were not fond of.
Also keeping an eye on the Raiders’ governance with a board seat to this day was fellow APS journeyman and former Defence and ASIO chief Dennis Richardson, leading some to jest Huawei’s sponsorship deal was the most thoroughly vetted in the history of league.
Hawke also held directorships at a number of other commercial organisations with strong links to Canberra including Datacom (NZ Posts IT services spinoff), Lockheed Martin Australia, Icon Water and the Committee for Economic Development in Australia.
A committed advocate for those in need, Hawke also held the role of president of ACT Barnados.
ANU vice-chancellor professor Brian Schmidt said Hawke had served ANU and Australia with great distinction.
“Australia and ANU have lost a true leader,” Schmidt said.
“Dr Hawke made significant contributions in areas vital to our national interest, including defence and our regions, as well as in our relations with the globe.
“And he was instrumental in making sure ANU continued to serve our nation and all Australians by delivering benefits through world-class research and teaching.
“He embodied the spirit and ethos of our great university – working tirelessly to help build a better Australia and a better future,” Schmidt said.
Writing in the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Strategist publication, the think tank’s director of defence, strategy and national security, Michael Shoebridge observed
that “the ‘learned helplessness’ speech he gave on 17 February 2000, 100 days into his time as secretary, is widely quoted and still holds a light up to Defence.”
The chief executive of Barnardos Australia, Deirdre Cheers, told The Mandarin “Allan Hawke was a long-term and dedicated supporter of Barnardos Australia, recognising the importance of advocating for vulnerable and disadvantaged children across Australia.
“He was also committed to Barnardos fundraising efforts in the role of Chair of the Barnardos Canberra Committee for a number of years. We thank Allan for his commitment to Barnardos and send our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.”
Raiders CEO Don Furner said Hawke was cheering on his team until the very end.
“He was still watching us win against Manly on the weekend and was wearing his Raiders jersey in his hospital bed.”
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