Michael Easson rebalances Ramsay Centre board
The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation has appointed Labor figure Michael Easson to its board to replace Kim Beazley.
The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation has appointed Labor figure Michael Easson to its board to replace former Labor leader Kim Beazley, who resigned this year when he was appointed governor of Western Australia.
The move will help rebalance the political composition of the Ramsay board, which is chaired by former prime minister John Howard and has another former prime minister , Tony Abbott, and federal Liberal backbencher Julian Leeser as members.
Mr Easson — a former secretary of the NSW Labor Council and a former ACTU vice-president — will be the second Labor figure on the board, joining former unionist Joe de Bruyn.
Mr Easson said he was excited by the centre’s mission to fund courses — based on the Western canon of great books — and scholarships in several Australian universities. “I like the idea of providing funding for this concept. It’s very, very common in the US and the UK,” he said. A great-books course did not imply a “worshipful regard for the past”, but was a way to “interrogate” our history. “A critical attitude is important,” he said.
Mr Easson said he did not see the Ramsay Centre’s mission as political and that it was a “caricature” to say it wanted to impose an ideological view.
He declined to comment on Mr Abbott’s statement earlier this year that the Ramsay Centre was not just about Western civilisation but “in favour” of it, which caused disquiet in universities.
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