Chris Kenny: John Bannon was a good bloke who took his eye off the play — at a huge cost to South Australia

JOHN BANNON was a good bloke but he played with fire — and it caused terrible damage to South Australia.

IN the nation’s modern political history there can be no greater irony than how John Bannon’s name will forever be associated with extravagance and profligacy.

Bannon was careful, cautious and never showy. We know he liked to potter in the garden and even keep bees.

He loved his local footy team, North Adelaide, cricket and was as South Australian as, well, Yo-Yos.

And Croweaters liked Bannon — as Premier his approval ratings were sky high.

He was an inoffensive and seemingly competent politician who landed the job during the boom and bust 1980s.

Initially, these were stirring times. Alan Bond, Christopher Skase, Bob Hawke and Crocodile Dundee were some of the big names of the era.

Thanks to Bannon, Adelaide joined the national party by attracting the Formula One grand prix and opening a casino. He ensured Roxby Downs was developed and lured the submarine project.

He became national ALP president, and won re-election in 1985, serving the state’s first four-year term before narrowly winning in 1989 despite getting only 48 per cent of the popular vote (sound familiar?).

Bannon was a clever political operative and well-liked by those who knew him and worked for him.

As a young journalist, I was initially in awe of him. We followed him overseas to France and Germany in search of a multifunction polis and he ran the first marathon through the newly-reunited Berlin.

In Bannon’s Victoria Square office one evening, we shared a beer (Coopers Light) and discussed the remarkable overnight news of Nelson Mandela’ release from jail.

Almost exactly a year later, we were summonsed to a Sunday morning briefing in the State Bank building to hear about the first billion-dollar bailout caused by the State Bank collapse.

From then on, he was on borrowed time and did more sparring than chatting.

Bannon’s death last week was truly sad news; apart from his wife, Angela, and family, he was loved and respected by many.

He was an impressive man whose intentions, especially for SA and Labor, were always good. However, it would be foolish, dishonest and irresponsible not to accurately reflect the impact his government had on the state.or to learn the hard lessons.

Bannon’s political career ultimately ended in spectacular failure which virtually bankrupted the state and created enormous social and political pain, setting SA back on its haunches for decades to come.

Even as the State Bank fiasco was unfolding, there were some people in the political/media class who were determined to portray Bannon as the victim rather than as one of the culpable parties.

They refused to acknowledge the deliberate government interventions and lack of proper oversight that created the disaster. In a way that was understandable — you had to remember the time. We wanted the dream to survive.

Most of us had mortgages with State Bank, insured with SGIC and loved the way Adelaide had been put on the map.

Yet we need to remember this was all part of a deliberate Bannon government plan to use state-owned financial institutions such as the State Bank, Beneficial Finance Corporation, SGIC and South Australian Financing Authority to generate profits for the state and bolster the budget.

The government was in it up to its neck — encouraging these entities to finance local disasters such as the REMM-Myer Centre, Scrimber and the State Bank building itself, as well as other interstate and overseas deals — and even secretly paid the bank $2 million of taxpayers’ money to keep interest rates down during the 1989 state election campaign.

Yes, if Tim Marcus Clark was a more prudent banker it wouldn’t have been so bad. Yes, if there was no recession and the boom went forever it would have been sweet.

And, yes, while Bannon was warned and so was the bank board. But this was the government’s plan and it played with our money.

Booms always bust — so the government exposed us to risk without ever bringing us into its confidence. It offered a facade of prudence while it gambled our future.

When the financial disasters of the Bannon era added upwards of $5 billion to state debt, they robbed the state of confidence and opportunities.

It took about 15 years to get rid of the debt and it took privatisations, cuts and restraint — economic and social pain.

And, of course, we will never know what other opportunities that money and effort might have delivered — the opportunity cost is imponderable

But Bannon didn’t run away. He stayed in Adelaide and contributed to education, history, federation and cricket.

His bravery and stoicism in speaking at an exhibition of his late father’s art just two days before his death was at once touching and poignant.

Bannon was a good man. We mourn him. But we will forget the difficult lessons of his mistakes at our peril.

 

Chris Kenny is the author of State of Denial — the government, the media, the bank.