John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I rise to acknowledge the quite outstanding contribution made by a quiet and unassuming public servant, Ms Barbara Belcher, who will be retiring before Easter from her position as First Assistant Secretary, Government Division, in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Barbara joined the department on 7 February 1966, missing the prime ministership of Sir Robert Menzies by less than a fortnight. Apart from a few years in the early nineties, she has spent her whole career in that department. She has served 10 prime ministers—Holt, McEwen, Gorton, McMahon, Whitlam, Fraser, Hawke, Keating, Howard and now Kevin Rudd—and 10 PM&C departmental secretaries: John Bunting, Lennox Hewitt, John Bunting again, John Menadue, Alan Carmody, Geoff Yeend, Mike Codd, Mike Keating, Max Moore-Wilton, Peter Shergold and now Terry Moran.

I will not go through all her responsibilities over so many years of service, but they have included early years working in the Executive Council Secretariat and processing a whole range of papers, such as letters patent for royal commissions and the formal documents for the appointment of ministers—and, in quite a number of cases, the termination of those appointments. From 1978 till 1981, during the Fraser government, Barbara worked in the cabinet office. She was executive assistant to Sir Geoffrey Yeend during the 1983 change of government. Later she worked on the massive machinery of government changes introduced by Prime Minister Hawke after the July 1987 election. In 1988 she became the department’ s House of Representatives parliamentary liaison officer, working all too briefly with Mick Young as Leader of the House and then subsequently with Kim Beazley. One of her tasks was to ensure that there was always a jacket available in her office in case ‘the Bomber’ had to make an unexpected appearance in the chamber. Her time in that job saw the parliament move into this building.

In 1994 she became secretary to the royal commission into the Australian Secret Intelligence Service. Of course, we cannot know too much about her contribution to that task, but by all accounts it was excellent. In mid-1995 she returned to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as Assistant Secretary, Parliamentary and Government Branch. Again, she dealt with all the business of the change of government in 1996. Three years later she was promoted by Mr Moore-Wilton to her present position as First Assistant Secretary, Government Division, a position which she has occupied for more than 10 years.

My dealings with Barbara fall into four stages. First, I came to know her in 1995 through the weekly meetings of the Parliamentary Business Committee of cabinet while I was Manager of Government Business in the Senate. Second, I gained a much fuller insight into her qualities during 11½ long years of opposition through the estimates committees—as I did, I might say, with many public servants. I am sure all senators who have seen Barbara in that role will agree that she has been a model witness. So she should be; she drafted the guidelines for official witnesses appearing before parliamentary committees. Barbara followed her own guidance, always willing to provide such information as she properly could but careful never to answer questions not asked. She was always meticulous in the accuracy and truth of her evidence. While fully comprehending the politics underlying the questions, she would never depart from the professional impartiality expected of public servants. I appreciate how little she enjoyed these regular interactions.

Our third area of interaction was far more enjoyable for both of us. We shared membership for many years of the National Archives of Australia Advisory Council. Barbara showed a real enthusiasm for the work of the council and the Archives and gave very sound, practical advice on how the council could achieve its ends. A significant initiative of the council to which she gave very helpful support and advice was the Australian Prime Ministers Centre, now well established in Old Parliament House.

Our fourth area of interaction has been the period since the last election. That Sunday morning, 25 November 2007, now seems a long time ago. It was a moment of exhaustion suspended between the euphoria of an election win and the grind of government. As we wondered what would happen next, Peter Shergold and Barbara Belcher arrived with their folders, and with their extensive knowledge and experience and their sound common sense, to help us with the myriad of decisions that have to be taken to enable a quick and smooth transition to government.

Since then Barbara has made an enormous personal contribution to the areas for which I have ministerial responsibility. As well as the ongoing parliamentary and governance work of her division, there have been the many initiatives on issues such as standards of ministerial conduct, the codes for lobbyists and ministerial staff and the setting up of new arrangements to ensure that government advertising is apolitical. I make special mention of the work done on two key areas of reform: the proposals for overhauling the FOI Act and those for electoral reform. Barbara’s contribution over this period has been absolutely outstanding, and I take this opportunity to publicly thank her for it.

These days there is an emphasis on career mobility, but we should also value the accumulation of knowledge, expertise and experience. I mentioned Barbara’s work on ministerial appointments. Over a period she developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the various circumstances leading to the sad end of many such appointments. From a lost Prime Minister to Sheraton sheets, from overseas loans to Stumpy Gully, from colour TV sets to Paddington Bears, from whiteboards to travel rorts, from Senator Shiel to Senator Santoro, and from many far less dramatic events, Barbara acquired knowledge and expertise which, coupled with what was an excellent sense of judgment, led to her becoming recognised in the Australian Public Service and by successive governments as the person to go to with the really difficult questions. She is also the oracle on the application of the caretaker conventions to all those challenging situations that arise during election periods.

There is little I can say about Barbara outside her working life. She has not had a lot of time, I suspect, outside of her work. What I can say, however, is that I personally know her to be generous hearted, solicitous for the welfare of others and a very caring and compassionate person. And I finish by saying, through you, Mr Acting Deputy President, sincere congratulations to Barbara for a job very well done. Thank you for the outstanding contribution you have made, and every best wish for a long and happy retirement. I will miss you, and I know very many others in this building will also.

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I rise briefly on behalf of the opposition to support and endorse Senator Faulkner’s appropriately generous remarks on the occasion of the retirement of Barbara Belcher after nearly 44 years in the Australian Public Service—a remarkable record of achievement. I do so on behalf of all former members of the Howard government, which Barbara served so loyally, as she has served every government that she has been active within. I congratulate her on a great career, which Senator Faulkner has so appropriately described. She has made a remarkable contribution to this country, to government, to public servants and to good governance. She is renowned on both sides of politics and in this city for her professionalism, her remarkable knowledge of the business of government and her innate wisdom.

I think, in particular, she has been a tremendous role model for women in our Public Service. One of the great features of the Public Service is that it contains so many very impressive women. One of the privileges of having been, in my case, a minister for 10 years is to have worked with so many outstanding public servants, particularly in the central agencies—in PM&C and Finance and Treasury, where I spent much of my time. Barbara was in PM&C and she was one of many with whom it was a privilege to work. As some know, I represented the Prime Minister in Senate estimates for a number of years and was the happy beneficiary of Barbara’s briefings and advice. I was a witness to her professionalism and courteous handling of senators’ questions, which Senator Faulkner has also referred to. Indeed, Barbara was especially helpful to me when senators Faulkner and Ray were launching completely outrageous attacks upon me over our modest investment in government advertising. Barbara was there, always very courteously and politely equipping me to respond to these outrageous attacks.

It is my pleasure to briefly endorse everything that Senator Faulkner has said, and the fact that government and opposition can combine in both the House and the Senate to thank Barbara for her tremendous contribution is testament to what she has given over nearly half a century to this country. We join with Senator Faulkner and the government in wishing her all the best in what I hope is a very long and enjoyable retirement.