John Bannon was the rare politician who cared little for self-interest

JOHN Bannon accepted the Labor leadership at a time of crisis not because he craved the power, but because he believed he was the best man to rebuild Labor. And he nearly pulled it off.

• John Bannon, SA’s longest-serving Labor premier, dies
• ‘The best I could do was not good enough’
• How Bannon became a prisoner of the State Bank’s legacy

JOHN Bannon rarely dropped his guard. He was the staid and sober face of Labor politics in South Australia throughout the 1980s. He wore a suit and tie on the warmest day, at the most casual function.

He even wore a suit during the radical anti-Vietnam War marches of the 1970s, for goodness sake. John Bannon was never caught making an inappropriate remark by a prying microphone. He epitomised New Labor, the Labor Party of conservative business, the party of the middle classes.

But late one night in a basement bar in Munich, in southern Germany, another John Bannon briefly emerged. An SA Government trade delegation led by Bannon was being entertained at a beer-swilling karaoke night by a big German industrial firm which had investment plans for SA.

As the beer flowed, the Premier — in his familiar grey suit — sat quietly in the corner, enjoying the singing but avoiding the microphone. Suddenly his host began a slow handclap which carried the bar: “We vont John,” cried the good-hearted German crowd.

The microphone was thrust into his hand. He had no choice. As a travelling journalist, I felt his embarrassment. No need. Bannon sang a rousing and humorous version of Waltzing Matilda which had his hosts doubled up with laughter. He declined an encore. The consummate professional.

The story is relevant because few South Australians saw the genuine, mischievous, funny and relaxed John Bannon. He was a delightful dinner party companion, a brilliant raconteur and had a wide knowledge of many subjects.

His public persona was one-dimensional. He was a rare politician who cared little for self-interest, ego or the unnecessary limelight.

He accepted the leadership of the Labor Party at a time of crisis at the end of the Don Dunstan-Des Corcoran era, not because he craved for the title or the power it gave him. He did it because he believed he was the best man to rebuild Labor.

And he nearly pulled it off. Bannon lifted Labor from an electoral trouncing in 1979 to an unexpected victory in 1982. Twice more, in 1985 and 1989, Bannon took Labor to victory.

But there was an elephant in the room. John Bannon’s government created the new State Bank — a state-owned bank which he believed could compete with the great banks of Australia and at the same time, give small investors and borrowers an advantage.

The collapse of the State Bank, with multi-billion dollar losses, plunged SA into a financial chasm. The remnants of that loss are still evident today. If the State Bank had worked, John Bannon would probably be remembered today as Labor’s most successful Premier.

But it failed. It drove him out of Parliament and haunted him in an active and creative retirement. It was his legacy. Sadly — through the prism of history — the State Bank collapse could have been avoided.

The then-Liberal Opposition Leader, Dale Baker, more than once went to Bannon and behind locked doors warned him the Bank was about to fail with disastrous consequences. They went to lunch — the Premier and his chief protagonist — at the Arkaba Steak Cellar, where Baker the businessman laid out the folly of the bank.

Bannon did nothing. During the Royal Commission into the bank’s collapse, Commissioner Sam Jacobs said Bannon was mesmerised by the managing director of the bank, Tim Marcus Clark. We may never know for sure.

John Bannon was not solely about the bank. He opened the Adelaide Casino, attracted the Formula One Grand Prix to Adelaide and introduced poker machines to SA hotels and clubs.

But the unlucky Premier was the victim of souring national economic factors — rising unemployment, spiralling interest rates and high inflation. The same economic conditions which killed the State Bank. It was not an easy time to govern.

The asterisk of the bank will always appear beside Bannon’s name. But there should be another asterisk. In many ways, John Bannon is the father of New Labor in SA. He rebuilt and modernised the Party.

It is his vision which is, in part, the reason Labor has governed since 2002. He left Labor in good shape.

Rex Jory was The Advertiser’s Political Editor from 1984-1996