As many of you know, my career has been bookended by the Australia Council. I started work there in 1972 as assistant to its first CEO, the unforgettable Jean Battersby, and under the inspirational Chairmanship of Dr HC Nugget Coombs. The Minister was Gough Whitlam and the Council comprised of some of the great leaders of our country and some great artists, who presided over the development of the organization as a significant catalyst for cultural development in Australia.

Twenty years later, in 1994, I came back to take over the CEO role when Paul Keating was the PM. It was the time of Creative Nation and the establishment of the Major Organisations Fund of the Australia Council.