Robert John "Bob" Carr (born 28 September 1947), Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW. Only
Sir Henry ParkesSir Henry Parkes, GCMG was an Australian statesman, the "Father of Federation." As the earliest advocate of a Federal Council of the colonies of Australia, a precursor to the Federation of Australia, he was the most prominent of the Australian Founding Fathers.Parkes was described during his...
served longer, but held the office not continuously but on five separate occasions.
Early life and career
Carr was born in the Sydney suburb of
MatravilleMatraville is an older established area of the lower Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Matraville is located approximately 9 kilometres by road south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of...
, to Edward and Phyllis Carr. He was educated at
Matraville High SchoolMatraville Sports High School, is a school located in Chifley, New South Wales, Australia, on Anzac Parade. It is a coeducational high school operated by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training with students from years 7 to 12...
from which he graduated as dux in 1964. He was the first person in his family to finish high school, and became interested in a career in politics in his teenage years. While still a 15-year-old student at school, he joined the local branch of the
Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
. He would go on to become the President of the New South Wales branch and then the national President of
Young LaborAustralian Young Labor is the youth wing of the Australian Labor Party. All ALP members aged under 26 are automatically members. Australian Young Labor is the peak youth body within the ALP. It represents about 9500 members in every state and territory in Australia...
in 1970 and 1972 respectively. He completed his tertiary education at the
University of New South WalesThe University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with honours in history.
After graduation, Carr worked as a journalist for the
ABCThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
Radio's
AMAM, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's flagship current-affairs radio program, is one of Australia's longest-running productions. Its tagline is Ensure you are informed.-History and timeslots:...
and
PMPM is one of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's flagship current-affairs radio programs, and is one of Australia's longest-running productions. It is the sister program to AM...
current affair programs from 1969 to 1971. He was also a reporter on industrial relations and politics for
The BulletinThe Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
magazine from 1978 to 1983. He later recalled that his work as a journalist provided good preparation for his political career. He also spent a period working as an education officer for the
Labor Council of New South WalesThe Labor Council of New South Wales is a representative body of Trade union organisations in the State of New South Wales, Australia. As of 2005 there are 67 unions and 8 Rural and Regional Trades & Labor Councils affiliated to the Labor Council, representing 800,000 workers in NSW...
(1972–78).
In 1972, Carr met the
Malaysian economics student, Helena on a vacation in
TahitiTahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, and they married on 24 February 1973.
Helena CarrHelena Carr is an Australian businesswoman and the wife of former Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr. As of 2004, she had extensive holdings in Australian printing corporations, making her a millionaire.-Early life:...
became a successful businesswoman; while she provided strong personal support, Helena largely remained out of the political spotlight during her husband's career.
Entry into politics
Carr entered the
New South Wales Legislative AssemblyThe Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...
at a
by-electionA by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in October 1983 as the member for
MaroubraMaroubra is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is currently represented by Michael Daley of the Australian Labor Party,...
, representing the
Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
. In December 1984 he was appointed Minister for
PlanningThe New South Wales Department of Planning and Infrastructure, a department of the New South Wales Government, is responsibile for the long-term planning for the regions of New South Wales and driving well-located housing and employment land...
and the Environment in the
Neville WranNeville Kenneth Wran, AC, CNZM, QC was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 until 1986. He was National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1980 to 1986 and Chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation from 1986...
government. In February 1986 he also took on the Consumer Affairs portfolio, which he held until he became Minister for Heritage in July 1986 when
Barrie UnsworthBarrie John Unsworth was an Australian politician, representing the Australian Labor Party in the Parliament of New South Wales from 1978 to 1991. He served as the 36th Premier from July 1986 to March 1988.-Early years:...
became premier.
Leader of the opposition
The
UnsworthBarrie John Unsworth was an Australian politician, representing the Australian Labor Party in the Parliament of New South Wales from 1978 to 1991. He served as the 36th Premier from July 1986 to March 1988.-Early years:...
Labor government was defeated in a landslide in
March 1988Elections to the 49th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 19 March 1988. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
, in the context of a 'time for a change' sentiment after 12 years of Labor. Carr was interested in
international relationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
, and his long-term ambition was to enter federal politics and become
Minister for Foreign AffairsIn the Government of Australia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In common with international practice, the office is often informally referred to as Foreign Minister...
. However, following the election Carr was pressured by his own Right
factionA political faction is a grouping of individuals, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, “parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. The individuals...
to stand for the leadership. Further, the party organisation did not want
Laurie BreretonLaurence John "Laurie" Brereton , Australianpolitician, was a state minister, a federal member of cabinet, and kingmaker in the election of several Australian Labor Party leaders, including Paul Keating and Mark Latham...
as leader; he would go on to represent the federal seat of
Kingsford SmithThe Division of Kingsford Smith is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Sydney, on the north shore of Botany Bay, and the coast of the Tasman Sea...
, which Carr viewed as his path to federal politics. Thus Carr reluctantly agreed to become Leader of the Opposition. His diary entries from the time reveal his thoughts.
I spent today like a doomed man, taking phone calls and drafting a statement, still saying to the press I wasn't shifting. I feel a jolt in my stomach about what I'm getting myself in for. I will destroy my career in four years. Everything's altered. It's my fate ... So, for better or for worse, I become leader of the party next week.
Despite his misgivings, Carr's performance as Opposition Leader gained approval in the party as he approached his task seriously. He maintained a disciplined message, attacking
Nick GreinerNicholas "Nick" Frank Hugo Greiner AC, is an Australian businessman and former politician. He was the 37th Premier New South Wales from 1988 to 1992. He was Leader of the New South Wales Division of the Liberal Party from 1983 to 1992 and Leader of the Opposition from 1983 to 1988. He is married...
's coalition government for waste and mismanagement while releasing his own costed policies to present Labor as an alternative government. Polling in the lead-up to the
1991 electionElections to the 50th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 25 May 1991. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
suggested another heavy defeat, yet Labor performed strongly and won back all but one of the seats lost at the previous election, and Greiner was forced to lead a
minority governmentA minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
with the support of independents.
In 1992 Greiner resigned following adverse findings against him from the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
John FaheyJohn Joseph Fahey, AC is a former Premier of New South Wales and Federal Minister for Finance in Australia. John Fahey is currently the President of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1984 to 1996 and the federal House of Representatives...
replaced him as premier, but was hampered by his need to negotiate with independents. Carr ran a focused campaign in the
1995 electionElections to the 51st Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 25 March 1995. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election. The minority Liberal Party of Australia-led Coalition government of Premier John Fahey was defeated by...
and won government with a majority of one seat.
Premier of New South Wales
In 1995 he became Premier at another close election. He was to win big majorities in both
1999Elections to the 52nd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 27 March 1999. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
and
2003Elections to the 53rd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 22 March 2003. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
.
His centrist, cautious government was characterised by conservative financial management and the encouragement of market forces, and a "tough on crime" policy. It was also seen as having a strong pro-environment character and being committed to curriculum rigour, testing and literacy initiatives in schools. Carr ventured into national policy issues, particularly issues concerning the environment, population growth, embryonic stem cell research, Federal-State relations and support for a minimalist model of an Australian Republic.
Nature conservation
Nature conservation emerged as a high priority early in the life of the Carr government. It quickly banned canal estates because of the impact on the quality of river systems. The government implemented a key election promise to save the South East forests that straddle the coastal range from Batemans Bay to the Victorian border. These had been slated for logging when the state government was elected. Carr’s election policy had included a commitment to protect 90,000 hectares in a string of new national parks. He exceeded the promise, gazetting 120,000 hectares. He later argued that this action had “saved the magnificent Myamba Gorge, the upper Towamba River and the ancient towering forests of the Coolangubra and Tantawangalo, crammed with their gliders, bandicoots and owls”. The initiative was supported by a six million dollar restructuring package to build a modern mill and a 20 year guarantee of alternative timber to keep it busy.
Following the 1999 state election, Carr declared 100 new national parks between Nowra and the Bega Valley. Before leaving office Carr stopped logging in the Brigalow belt, in the Pilliga region north of Coonabarabran. This intervention saved “semi-arid woodland of ironbark and Cypress pine, its Malleefowl and Barking Owl, and providing the chance to recharge the reserves of the Great Artesian Basin”.
Negotiations to restructure the mills in the Brigalow Belt were painstaking but successful. Carr claimed in 2009 that “rural towns did not ‘die’ as a result of these conservation measures. The old timber towns now boast communities with a strong economic base, world-class national parks on their doorstep and thriving nature-based tourism”.
In its first term the government banned the removal of old-growth vegetation from farmlands and introduced pricing for rural water and an environmental allocation to the state’s river systems. Both initiatives proved controversial in pitching farmers and the state government in conflict.
In June 2001 Carr banned jet skis from Sydney Harbor. “You wouldn’t allow motor bikes in the Botanic Gardens” he said.
Two other decisions on forest won the support of the NSW conservation movement. In 2003 the government saved the so called forest icons, now regarded as jewels in the reserve system in north-eastern NSW. They included, in Carr’s own words, “the old growth forest at Chaelundi where historic conservation battles had been fought a decade previously; nationally significant biodiversity hotspots at Whian; and the largest koala population on the east coast on SNW at Pine Creek near Coffs Harbour".
The curbs on the clearing of nature vegetation were counted as a serious anti-greenhouse gas measure, helping Australia achieve its Kyoto targets. In addition, in January 2003 the Carr government launched the world’s first greenhouse gas trading scheme, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Scheme, which set a limit on carbon emissions by electricity retailers. It was listed by the World Bank as the world’s first carbon trading scheme.
In 2004 the government created the building sustainability index which set up energy and water reduction targets that all new houses had to meet. It mandated reductions in energy and water use of up to 40 percent in every new dwelling.
Pursuing environmentalism and education improvement gave Carr a lot of satisfaction. He noted in his diary for 21 April 1997:
Yesterday our school reforms were announced. All the ideas I’d formulated in Opposition. Four-unit English for the HSC. Compulsory exams at the end of Year 10. Soft options gone… I mark the package with forestry. I could leave politics and be satisfied with my achievements.
State debt and infrastructure
During Carr’s 10 years as Premier net debt was reduced from 7.4 percent of gross state product to zero. Carr claimed his government was the first in the state’s history to reduce debt rather than add to it. But, he argued, investment in infrastructure was running at record levels during his years in office. He argued that in 10 Carr budgets he allocated $61 billion to new infrastructure and $10 billion to debt retirement.
Carr said public investment was running in real terms adjusted for inflation at 33 percent higher than the average for the 1990s and 66 percent higher than the average for the 1980s. He quoted as examples the $2 billion spend on the new Epping-Chatswood rail link, the $1.5 billion rail clearways plan and the $490 million on 140 Millennium trains plus 440 million on other rolling stock. He also instanced the new bus transit ways such as the $346 million transit way from Liverpool to Parramatta that provides express way conditions to bus travelers in Sydney’s west. He boasted of $3.7 billion on 27 major hospital projects from Broken Hill to Wyong. He particularly instanced the new St Vincent’s, the new sections of Royal Prince Alfred and the new Canturbury Hospital. He referred to the rebuilding of the Conservatorium of Music and the new Sydney Theatre in Hickson Road.
Carr’s former Chief of Staff Graeme Wedderburn was critical of Carr’s successors for not initiating new infrastructure on the Carr model. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald on 31 July 2010, he stated:
From 2005 to last year, it's hard to point to a single, new major transport project in Sydney that has gone to tender. No M4 East, no major rail line - not until Nathan Rees barged the South West Rail line back on to the agenda in November.
After Carr left office, many of his initiatives were opened by his successors. The largest of these were the $1.5 billion M7 Westlink, opened in 2005 and the largest urban roads project in Australia; and the $2 billion Epping to Chatswood railway line, opened in 2009, and the largest urban rail project in the country.
Tort reform
In its second term the Carr government embarked on tort law reform that ultimately won Carr a description from Forbes magazine as “a giant slayer”. In 1999 with the cost of greens slips (compulsory third party motor accident insurance) increasing Carr gave his Minister John Della Bosca the task of reform. It resulted in what the government would call ‘legal rorts’ being stripped from the system. The average price of a green slip was to drop $150 on 1999 prices. Carr was to argue that this created a template for what he called ”the most comprehensive tort reform that any government has developed, moving from motor accident to medical indemnity, public liability and worker’s compensation. Carr argued “…this tort law reform was the best microeconomic reform out of any state government in a decade. It cut the cost of doing business and fed directly into productivity improvement, not at the expense of workers but at the expense of the plaintiff lawyers who had fed on a culture of rorts and rip-offs”.
Carr noted in his diary:
I have cost the law profession hundreds of millions. First, freeing business conveyancing from the lawyers’ monopoly in 1995. [Then] the reforming of accident compensation (cost them hundreds of millions alone) in 1999. Now cutting them out of the action on workers comp. It’s not worth being Premier unless you can take privileges off the undeserving.
However the fact that the law effectively made it impossible to claim for any injury worth less than around $60,000, was criticised by Justice Spigelman and others, because it effectively "eliminates small claims" entirely, giving "people the right to be negligent and injure someone up to a given level before they become liable". In other words, government agencies and corporations might make decisions that endanger public safety similar to that claimed about the 'Ford Pinto fuel tank controversy': it would be more economically rational to allow substandard work even if it endangered the public, because the payments for loss of wages and medical bills (under Medicare) would often be relatively small by comparison to the work required.
Justice Spigelman said:
"The introduction of a requirement that a person be subject to fifteen percent of whole of body impairment – that percentage is lower in some states – before being able to recover general damages has been the subject of controversy. It does mean that some people who are quite seriously injured are not able to sue at all. More than any other factor I envisage this restriction will
be seen as much too restrictive.’"
Drug laws
As a result of the 1999 drug summit sponsored by the government the Carr cabinet introduced Australia’s first medically supervised injecting room for heroin users, located in King’s Cross. The government argued it would provide “a pathway to rehabilitation”. The government argued it was a harm minimization measure to keep drug users alive until they make the decision to get off drugs. Other reforms included the introduction of drug courts and a voluntary diversion program that allows magistrates to refer offenders to treatment rather than lock them up.
Police reform
The Carr-led Opposition had backed a motion by independent
John HattonJohn Edward Hatton AO is former Australian politician, and an National Trust of Australia nominated Australian Living Treasure. He was the independent member of the New South Wales State parliament "lower house" for to the seat of South Coast from 1973 to 1995...
in May 1994 to establish a Royal Commission into corruption in the NSW Police. As a result, Carr inherited the work of the Royal Commission and its reports. In November 1996 one of the reports recommended that the government give increased power to the Police Commissioner to hire and fire all staff, random drug and alcohol testing of all police officers, the formation of the police detection commission to detect and audit police corruption. But the recommendations sparked strong objection from the Police Association backed by the Labor Council and demonstrations at parliament house by 1500 police. There was a revolt in Carr’s parliamentary party.
The Premier was adamant that the commissioner must have the increased power if the police force were to be rid of corrupt or compromised officers. The legislation was passed. The
Sydney Morning Herald stated in an editorial that Carr had shown “a steely courage in resisting the pressure of the police association"
Private Public Partnership
The Carr Government pioneered private public partnerships to fund additional infrastructure, creating a model followed in other states. Five new projects delivered Sydney a ring road system:
- M5 Extension
- Eastern Distributor
- M7 Westlink
- Lane Cove Tunnel
- Cross City Tunnel
As a result an hour was slashed from travel times on a north-south journey in Sydney’s West using the 42 kilometers of M7 Westlink. Motorists could get from the northern suburbs to the Victorian border without a single set of traffic lights. The Cross City Tunnel eliminated 18 traffic lights on an East-West journey under the city and reduced the journey time by 20 minutes. These roads had a total value of $5.4 billion. All but $800 million was contributed by the private sector.
This is in marked contrast to the infrastructure record of his predecessors in the Greiner/Fahey government, who in building the M4, M5 and M2 toll roads and the Anzac bridge left the Carr government with $10 billion of inherited debt – paid off over Carr’s term.
In 2007 Infrastructure Partnerships Australia awarded three projects began under Carr’s Premiership as the best PPP’s in Australia. They were the Westlink M7 opened in late 2005; school construction and maintenance which the Auditor General said had saved tax payers $55 million; the maintenance of 626 new rail carriages, the largest procurement of trains in Australian history.
Carr argued that the victory of his successor Morris Iemma (who was re-elected with a big majority in March 2007) came about because of this infrastructure spending. Writing in the
Australian Financial Review on 27 March 2007, he observed that Barry Collier, the member for Miranda, had cited $500 million in infrastructure spending in his electorate including the rebuilding of Sutherland Hospital and the construction of Bangor Bypass and Woronora Bridge. Carr also pointed out that
Steve WhanSteve Whan , an Australian politician, is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, appointed in June 2011 to fill a casual vacancy. Whan represented the electoral district of Monaro in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for the Australian Labor Party from 2003 until his defeat at...
, the member for Monara, had referred to the $60 million rebuilding of Queanbeyan hospital. In Parramatta, he argued, a new rail-bus interchange worth $100 million was a dramatic demonstration of the local member’s capacity to deliver.
Government House
A year after his appointment as premier, Carr caused controversy when he recommended that the newly appointed
New South Wales GovernorThe Governor of New South Wales is the state viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who is equally shared with 15 other sovereign nations in a form of personal union, as well as with the eleven other jurisdictions of Australia, and resides predominantly in her...
,
Gordon SamuelsGordon Jacob Samuels AC, CVO, QC , was a British-Australian lawyer, Judge and Governor of New South Wales from 1996 to 2001. Born in London in 1923, Samuels was educated at University College School and Balliol College, Oxford. After serving in the Second World War, he was called to the bar and...
, not live at
Government HouseGovernment House is located in Sydney, Australia alongside the Royal Botanic Gardens, overlooking Sydney Harbour, just south of the Sydney Opera House...
, which would become a museum open to the public. This decision was seen by monarchists as an attempt by Carr, a republican, to downgrade the importance of the office of Governor.
2000 Olympics
Carr’s Government was responsible for the building of facilities and the conduct of the 2000 Olympic Games, described by the International Olympic Committee as 'the best ever!'.
Carr was to boast that the 2000 Olympics were paid in full without a cent in debt.
Legacy
After ten years as Premier, Carr announced his resignation both as Premier and as the Member for Maroubra on 27 July 2005 to be effective from 3 August. This immediately prompted speculation that the resignation was a prelude to a move into federal politics, but Carr denied this. His successor as Premier was former Health Minister
Morris IemmaMorris Iemma , is a former Australian politician and 40th Premier of New South Wales, succeeding Bob Carr after he resigned on 3 August 2005. Iemma led the Australian Labor Party to victory in the 2007 election before resigning as Premier on 5 September 2008, and as a Member of Parliament on 19...
. Carr's resignation triggered the resignations of Deputy Premier
Andrew RefshaugeAndrew John Refshauge was an Australian politician and Deputy Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005.Refshauge was born in Melbourne, the son of Major-General Sir William Refshauge AC CBE ED , who later became Honorary Physician to Queen Elizabeth II 1955–64 and Director-General of the...
and Planning Minister
Craig KnowlesCraig John Knowles is a former Australian politician and member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2005....
.
Retired Premier
Neville WranNeville Kenneth Wran, AC, CNZM, QC was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 until 1986. He was National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1980 to 1986 and Chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation from 1986...
described Carr as "the very model of a modern Labor premier, an articulate and powerful public performer who identified himself with the contemporary policy issues of education and the environment." Wran noted that the Carr model became a template for other Australian Labor Party leaders, with some regarding him as a mentor.
Under Carr the NSW government was able to boast that while in 1994 there were 328 national parks covering four million hectares of NSW, Carr’s policies meant 770 national parks covering 6.6 million hectares by 2006. Wilderness protection was expanded: there were 650,000 hectares in 1994, by 2006 nearly two million hectares.
The North Side Sewage Tunnel, funded by the government in its first term, stopped more than 20 billion litres of sewage reaching Sydney harbour and saw whales and dolphins return to it. The government also built pollution traps to capture litter and rubbish that would have otherwise been flushed with storm water onto Sydney beaches. In 1994, before the election of the government, 430 kilograms of waste was being generated by every Sydney resident each year, and only 60 kilograms being recycled. Reforms to the waste industry saw a 28 percent reduction to 310 kilograms per person and a 65 percent increase in recycling to 102 kilograms per person.
Media commentary following Carr's retirement noted that his achievements included improvements to education standards and literacy rates. Writing in the Australian Financial Review in March 2007 Carr quoted one school Principal Jenny Allum on SCEGGS Darlinghurst “I know of no national test in which NSW students are not at the top"
He received credit for the increase in the number and size of the State's national parks. Less positive comment was received about rail transport which recorded a period of poor on-time running and a damaging industrial dispute in 2004.
Literature
Bob Carr is the author of several books, including
Thoughtlines (Viking, 2002) and
My Reading Life (Penguin, 2008). He is a charter member of the
Chester A. ArthurChester Alan Arthur was the 21st President of the United States . Becoming President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, Arthur struggled to overcome suspicions of his beginnings as a politician from the New York City Republican machine, succeeding at that task by embracing...
Society, a U.S. political trivia group named after the U.S. president, 1881-1885.
In May 2003, a biography by Marilyn Dodkin,
Bob Carr: the reluctant leader, was published. It was partly based on Carr's private diaries and included his often uncomplimentary thoughts on various political personalities. A second biography,
Bob Carr: A Self-Made Man, by Andrew West and Rachel Morris, was published in September 2003 by Harper Collins.
Carr appeared on stage at the 2004
Sydney FestivalSydney Festival is Australia's largest and most attended annual cultural event running every January since it was first held in 1977. Its program features around 80 events including contemporary and classical music, dance, circus, drama, visual arts and artist talks...
in conversation with Sir
Tom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
and has associated with other writers including Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer.
After politics
Since leaving parliament Bob Carr has heavily involved himself in public debate. He championed embryonic stem cell research and helped persuade his successor not to retreat from support for the polling he had promoted in government. Writing in The Telegraph on 24 August 2006 he argued, “Stem cell research enjoys great public support. Let the doctors and scientists get on with the job. Their research might save a life in your family or mine”. Urging support for somatic cell nuclear transfer (or therapeutic cloning) he wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald on 25 July 2006:
There is an air of unreality about the rejection by the Prime Minister, John Howard, of the Lockhart review, which recommended the go-ahead for one form of stem cell treatment, called somatic cell nuclear transfer (or therapeutic cloning), leaving it to the states to ponder whether they can validly legislate on their own.
A century from now, people will consider this bewildering, especially when the embryos are byproducts of IVF treatment and if not used in research get thrown out in plastic bags of hospital waste.
He continued to champion nature conservation for example by advocating generous national park declarations over the River Red Gums. The river red gums are “Australian icons, part of our folklore, symbols of inland Australia” he wrote in an op-ed in The Sydney Morning Herald in July 2009.
He was described by The Australian’s Paul Kelly as Australia’s leading opponent of a charter of rights. When the federal government accepted Carr’s argument against a charter Carr wrote in The Australian that, “If the public believed the executive arm of government were stifling freedoms, Australia slipping behind other democracies, there would have been a decided shove towards a human rights act”. He continued “Instead…it sunk below the water, not leaving a slick of printer’s ink”.
Pursuing the interest in literacy he urged an opening of the Australian book market to permit the import of cheaper books.
The rise in the annual immigration intake brought Carr into the debate on what he calls 'Australia’s carrying capacity'. Wrote Mathew Moore in The Sydney Morning Herald “For more than two decades Bob Carr has been warning Australians against unchecked population growth, cautioning that the fragile soils and erratic rivers of the world’s oldest continent make it highly vulnerable to the pressures imposed by every extra resident”.
Carr has argued that “The debate is about whether immigration should be running at very high levels. It’s about whether we end up with a population of 36 million in 2050 in contrast to the previous expectation of 28.5 million".
During the 2010 Federal election, both sides of politics appeared to accept Carr's arguments.
Carr took up the issue of obesity and argued that chain restaurants should be forced by law to put calorie measurements next to menu items, that trans fats be banned as in some US states and food manufacturers be made to reduce salt content. The NSW Premier Kristina Keneally appeared to accept his case with an announcement of a State government initiative on food labeling in May 2010.
In retirement Carr has made speeches at international conference on climate change, Australia-China relations and multiculturalism. He interviewed American novelist Gore Vidal at the Shanghai and Hong Kong writer’s festivals in 2007 and Simon Sebag Montefiorre, the biographer of Stalin, at Sydney Writers Week in 2008.
In October 2005 Carr became a part-time consultant for Macquarie Bank, Australia's largest investment bank, advising the company on policy, climate change, renewables and strategic issues with a focus on the United States, the People's Republic of China.
Carr continued pursuing his literary interests, interviewing authors and lecturing regularly at the
Sydney Writers' FestivalThe Sydney Writers' Festival is an annual literary festival held in the Australian city of Sydney. The Festival's artistic director is Chip Rolley.-History:...
. He appeared as a guest reporter for the ABC television show
Foreign Correspondent, conducting an interview with friend
Gore VidalGore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
. In 2008 he attended the
Australia 2020 SummitThe Australia 2020 Summit was a convention, referred to in Australian media as a summit, which was held on 19-20 April 2008 in Canberra, Australia, aiming to "help shape a long term strategy for the nation's future"...
as part of the economy panel, and raised the issues of an
Australian RepublicRepublicanism in Australia is a movement to change Australia's status as a constitutional monarchy to a republican form of government. Such sentiments have been expressed in Australia from before federation onward to the present...
and childhood obesity.
He has been serving on the board of book retailer Dymocks since July 2007 and the board of directors at the
United States Studies CentreThe United States Studies Centre is located at the University of Sydney, and aims to increase understanding of the United States in Australia. The centre provides courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and hosts public and business forums....
since 2009.
In 2010 he was appointed Patron of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Foundation and Patron of the Chifley home, Bathurst.
Awards
His work on US-Australia relations has been recognized with the Fulbright Distinguished Fellow Award Scholarship. He donated the prize money to launch scholarships for the State's teachers to complete studies abroad. His services to conservation have been recognised with a World Conservation Union International Parks Merit Award and Life Membership in the Wilderness Society.
In 2008 he was award the Cavliere di Gran Croce, or Grand Knight Cross, in recognition of his services to Italian culture.
Further reading
- Bob Carr "Thoughtlines'" 2002 publisher Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-670-04025-4
External links