CURTIN UNIVERSITY BENTLEY CAMPUS PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA GRADUATION CEREMONY THURSDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2018 CURTIN BUSINESS SCHOOL GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS CURTIN LAW SCHOOL FACULTY OF HUMANITIES EDUCATION Address to Graduates by The Hon Eric M Heenan QC* * A Retired Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (2002-2015) 1
Those in attendance: Chancellor, Mr Colin Beckett Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Terry Dean of Law, Professor Paul Fairall Head of School of Education, Professor Lina Pellicione 2
Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Members of Council and Academic Staff, Graduates, Parents, Partners and Friends. First, let me congratulate all those who are graduating from this great university here tonight. As graduates you are now about to embark upon, and those of you with higher degrees will continue with, the great privileges and responsibilities which your talents have gained for you and for which you are recognised as worthy by the degrees conferred upon you by the Chancellor. The privileges, of course, include the recognition and influence which you have earned and will continue to earn in your careers from those whom you serve and with whom you work and from those whom you will lead. The responsibilities include the delivery to the community and to your clients, colleagues and students knowledge and inspiration which, in turn, may produce, another group of leaders for our nation and for the many other countries from which many of you come and to which many of you may travel. In this sense, you are truly elite, in the best sense of that word, because you have the capacity and the opportunity to serve, improve and sustain the societies in which you will be living and working. Of all the assets of a nation, the talents of its people are the most formidable, durable and efficacious. As societies advance and prosper, or when times of difficulty or struggle beset them, it is to the resources and skills of their populace that they must turn for solution and survival. A great university like yours produces highly qualified and competent graduates ready to take their place in this never-ending role of human development and progress. Every profession, vocation and calling has its own hierarchy, but all share in recognising the importance of the replenishment of their numbers by young men and women of ability who, 3
faster than they may expect, will assume positions of responsibility and eventually leadership roles. As you look around you and see so many eminent academics, leaders, researchers, entrepreneurs, educators and lawyers here, pause for a moment to appreciate that within the space of a few decades, if not sooner, many of you will have risen by your merits, abilities and diligence to similar positions. You will be looking then, like your teachers now, with approval and hope on the rising generations of graduates freshly trained and equipped with the latest ideas and methods. This progression is vital to the welfare of our communities and that is why I say it is not just a privilege but also a great responsibility for you all to fulfil. Of all the rights of passage - matriculation, marriage, the birth of children, promotion to high office and eventual retirement, to name only some - graduation in professional disciplines such as yours must rank among the highest. This is because it is not only a very signal achievement gained by much work and skill, but also because it represents a vindication of one's early hopes and ambitions and so reinforces one's confidence for the future. I have already said twice that you are graduates of a great university and of that there can be no doubt. Recently having celebrated 50 years since its original establishment, this university has long been recognised as a major centre of learning with international affiliations and reputations renowned for its broad scope of faculties and its great achievements in applied learning and technology. It is fittingly named after the great Australian Prime Minister, John Curtin, who, from humble beginnings and despite many setbacks, assumed the greatest national responsibility in some of Australia's darkest days. Against many difficulties and 4
opposition from some quarters, he navigated his way successfully through the periods of our greatest danger and settled Australia upon a successful course for a future, of which many then could scarcely dare to hope. He took office in October 1941 and died in harness in July 1945, with the end of the war in sight. This is not the time or place to expatiate upon Curtin's abilities, achievements or legacy, but I have direct knowledge of the respect and admiration with which he was held by the people of his time. My late mother and father, both lawyers, were practising law in Kalgoorlie before the onset of the second world war and until after 1950. My father was then also a member of the State Parliament for the Goldfields, then, as now, a region of great economic importance for the State. John Curtin made numerous visits from Canberra to his home in Cottesloe and to his electorate of Fremantle, both by air and rail, although it seems more frequently by train. Either way, it was customary for him and his entourage to travel via Kalgoorlie either for the aeroplane to land and refuel or in order to change trains. On those occasions, he would be met by local representatives, frequently including my father, and I was told that it was not unusual for him to come to my parents' home for afternoon tea or for a break before the next leg of the journey and to meet friends and colleagues. Both my parents had great respect for Mr Curtin, particularly as they knew the vicissitudes which he had overcome and especially because of the heavy burdens which he was carrying at the time. I have heard from them on many occasions how great the effect of the strain of wartime leadership was upon him and how great a toll it took of him. When one considers the immense responsibilities which he and his colleagues bore, and the far-reaching, nation changing consequences 5
which they had, it is far more than just fitting that he should be remembered by the name and reputation of this great university. I wish to say something briefly about the several disciplines of the graduates here tonight - business, law and education. It is not possible to over-estimate the importance of these professions for a country's welfare. For a nation to meet the aspirations of its people for peaceful lives, security for themselves and their families, decent standards of living and opportunities for advancement, the country must be sufficiently prosperous and its economy well regulated and efficient. Consequently, the roles of business, economics, commerce and their associated disciplines are vital to its welfare and its stability. Not for nothing did President Calvin Coolidge say in 1925 that 'the business of America is business'. Similarly, the intended sarcasm and mockery in Napoleon Bonaparte's jibe against the British that 'England is a nation of shopkeepers' conspicuously failed to recognise the power arising from such commerce. Indeed, the true positive importance of the concept was earlier recognised and voiced by none other than the celebrated Scottish philosopher/economist Adam Smith in his 'Wealth of Nations' in 1776. By devoting yourselves to the proper role of business as serving all the interests of the community and ensuring equitable distribution of the nation's wealth, those of you from the business school will, no doubt, play a vital role in our futures. Those of you tonight graduating in law will have, by now, come to appreciate how vital is the proper regulation of society by just laws inherited from the accumulated wisdom of the past or created by democratically elected Parliaments. It is vital that these should be impartially administered and that disputes, whether between citizens or 6
corporations or governments or other nations, be resolved by established principles, by an independent judiciary sitting publicly in courts and by a legal profession respected by the community. The law has many roles and regulating society is just one of them. It must protect the weak and the exploited, control the powerful and resolve great clashes of ideas and ambitions pursued in many quarters by arbitraments which are rational, fair and open to scrutiny by all. The practice of law in the traditional sense is not the only way in which law graduates serve the community. In these modern times qualifications in law are more and more recognised as demonstrating in their bearers a discipline of thought, an adherence to principle and an ability to be of use in the many varied demands of individuals, families, businesses, corporations and institutions. There are also immense opportunities for lawyers in trade and commerce, in banking, government and in international affairs as modern forms of communication ensure that, more rapidly than ever, people and institutions all over the world appreciate how much their interests are connected and integrated. Those of you graduating in education and its affiliated disciplines deserve special compliments. All that has been achieved by those graduating tonight is an irrefutable recognition of the importance of education. As a nation grows and its affairs become more complex, education at all levels becomes more and more intricate, vital and challenging. That we have in this country a system of higher education available through so many universities, like this one, is a tribute to the great educators of the past. No doubt this new generation of educators will have other mountains to climb both to ensure that the new developments in science, medicine, technology, arts and the professional disciplines are transmitted to 7
successive crops of students, but also to ensure that our system of general education continues and prospers, and especially that those pockets of special need, whether because of disability, disadvantage or other erstwhile limiting factors, are addressed and satisfied. I think it must be acknowledged by everyone here that every one of us is in debt to our teachers and educators of the past and I cannot imagine that this is ever likely to alter. This brings me to voice what I feel sure is prominent in your own minds: that you all greatly appreciate and respect the efforts of your lecturers, researchers, tutors and other teachers here in this university and recognise the part which all of them have played in your success tonight. There is, of course, another group which I am sure you would wish me to acknowledge and recognise. So great an achievement as graduation in one's chosen discipline can seldom come without the help, support, care and encouragement of others. For many of you here tonight, particularly those graduating for the first time, this event is likely to be the realisation of a long-held and great family ambition to which parents, brothers and sisters, spouses, partners, children, friends and colleagues have all contributed. Perhaps there were times when the hurdles and difficulties of your courses were thought to be insuperable or there were setbacks which sapped one's confidence or when the perseverance which you needed required sustenance and encouragement. Your family, friends and loved ones have no doubt played a great role in your accomplishments and it is only right that they too should be congratulated and honoured on such an occasion as this. 8
There is some irony in the fact that I have been invited to give this address tonight because it is only recently that I have retired (compulsorily because of age, I hasten to add) after 49 continuous years of practice in one form or another in the law, a career which I have greatly enjoyed and which has been very rewarding. Consequently, while all of you are now looking forward to the burgeoning of your chosen careers, I have a different perspective in looking back on an experience undergone. I have no doubts or misgivings about this aspect, nor of the merits or enjoyments of my career, despite inevitable vicissitudes. It is the recognition of the satisfaction and utility of those long years which supports my sense of confidence that you all, with appropriate perseverance and application, will make your own indelible contributions to your societies. I said earlier in this address that graduation was prominent among the rites of life. It is certainly a great point of departure catapulting you into what in many cases will be unknown and unexpected new horizons lying before you. It is a moment of transition into a complex and difficult world for which you have been qualified and trained by your disciplines to navigate and to rule. It is, in the sharpest sense, a coming of age into a world far more complex and beset with problems than you may imagine but, for all that, it is a spectacular new dawn. All here wish to congratulate you and to join in your well deserved celebrations. Make good use of your abilities. Serve us all well. EMH 9