“Crikey, there has to be something wrong with a department that couldn’t keep an officer with the qualities of Peter Timmins.”
Next came Saigon during the Vietnam War, after the 1968 Tet Offensive, when doubts in the United States and Australia about the successful prosecution of the war became mainstream. Peter was a man of multiple skills with next stop a leadership role in the finance industry as head of the national Credit Union body CUSCAL. He took on the big banks and won a fierce battle for access to the bankcard payments system. He also led a movement working with the “two Regs” – Elliot and Fowler – for structural rationalisation of the sector that translated into fewer, stronger credit unions.
In short, he was the go-to man in Australia for FOI help and open government or transparency advice at whatever level one operated. His net was cast widely from his Potts Point eyrie: from journos grappling with a new reporting round to senior business figures and indeed, on several occasions, Paul Keating, one of the nation’s most celebrated and impactful prime ministers.