Ted Evans. Son of a fitter and turner. Left high school aged 15. Former Treasury secretary. Friend of Paul Keating. Former Westpac chairman. Today, my lunch companion.

Evans, 78 and now retired, walks past the bar at Walsh’s Hotel in his hometown of Queanbeyan on the outskirts of Canberra. He lives just a few blocks away with his second wife, Judith, and their dog, and attends church nearby. It's just after midday and the locals are enjoying a drink here at the town’s first pub, which opened in 1885. A scattering of patrons are in for lunch.