Stuart Harris (public Servant And Academic)
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Stuart Francis Harris (born 14 March 1931) is a retired Australian senior
public servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
and
academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
. He was born in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.


Early life

Harris grew up in London, attending Tottenham Grammar School. In 1947, at age 16, he moved to Australia under the auspices of the Big Brother Movement, a scheme to facilitate young Britons to move to Australia and work on the land. After some time working on farms, Harris took a job at the Sydney Branch of the Commonwealth Taxation Department and enrolled in evening classes in economics at the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
, eventually winning a government scholarship to complete his honours year, achieving his degree in 1956.


Career

After completing his honours degree, Harris transferred to Canberra, initially with the Taxation Department, before moving to the Department of Trade, where he began working closely with (later Sir) John Crawford, who facilitated his gaining a Public Service Fellowship at the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
which enabled Harris to undertake a
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
. In 1962 Harris joined the then Bureau of Agricultural Economics (BAE), now the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), initially as the senior economist. Taking leave from the BAE in 1967-68, Harris worked with the Colombian government on land reform as part of the Harvard Advisory Service mission there. He returned to Australia in mid-1968 to take up the position of Director, BAE, where he was considered to have “contributed to the development of a more professional approach to policy analysis in the BAE.” He also initiated the annual Agricultural Outlook Conference, which continues to this day.The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (2001), 45:4, pp. 503-504 Between 1972 and 1975 Harris was a Deputy Secretary of the Department of Overseas Trade. During his time in the public service, Harris contributed to a number of major government inquiries, such as ''The Committee of Economic Enquiry'' (Vernon Report, 1965). In 1974 he led the working group that produced the report on ''The Principles of Rural Policy in Australia'' in 1974 which attracted attention from the academic and policy community at the time. In the following year, Harris chaired the Task Force on Economic Policy, which published the report ''The Processes of Economic Policy Making in Australia'' (as part of the Royal Commission on Australian Government). The Task Force also included noted economists
Ian Castles Ian Castles (20 February 1935 – 2 August 2010) was Secretary of the Australian Government Department of Finance (1979–86), the Australian Statistician (1986–94), and a Visiting Fellow at the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Governmen ...
and Robert Gregory as members. In 1975, Harris moved to the Australian National University where he was appointed to the Chair of Resource Economics in the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES, later renamed the Fenner School of Environment and Society). He took on the position of Director of the Centre from 1982 to 1984. Harris was appointed
secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...
of the
Department of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...
(DFA) in September 1984 . In 1986, he published a major report on the role of the DFA in his ''Review of Australia's Overseas Representation''. Harris then oversaw the transition in administrative arrangements in which the Department of Foreign Affairs was reorganised and the expanded
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the department of the Australian government responsible for foreign policy and international relations, development aid (under the name Australian Aid), consular services, overseas trad ...
was established. Harris retired as secretary of the department in 1988. After leaving the public service, Harris returned to academic life at the ANU, as Professor of International Relations, specialising in Northeast Asia, particularly China. In 1989, Harris was one of the three chairs appointed to lead the Ecologically Sustainable Development Process, commissioned by the
Hawke Government The Hawke government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1983 to 1991. The government followed the Liberal-National Coalition Fraser government and was su ...
. Based on extensive consultation the chairs presented 9 sectoral papers in 1991 and two further reports on intersectoral issues and greenhouse in 1992. Since his retirement in 1996, Harris has continued research on China's foreign policy and global relationships as an Emeritus Professor at the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
.


Awards

Harris was made a Fellow of the
Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Aus ...
in 1982. In the
1989 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in suppl ...
Harris was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of distinguished public service. In 2000, Harris was made a Distinguished Fellow of the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. Harris was awarded an honorary D.Litt by Murdoch University in 2013.Murdoch University, February 2013, ''A Lifetime of Public Service Honoured by Murdoch''.
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Notes


References and further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Stuart 1931 births Living people Australian National University alumni Australian public servants English emigrants to Australia Officers of the Order of Australia