The Australian politician who popularised koalas in the 1980s and created the “throw another shrimp on the barbie” tourism ad joins Georgina Godwin in Sydney to talk about his new book, ‘Brownie: The Minister for Good Times’. John Brown, the first in his family to achieve school qualifications, went on to serve as an MP in the Federal House of Representatives for 13 years, and held several ministerial posts in the Hawke government where he transformed the face of tourism and sport in Australia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hello and welcome to Meet the Writers.
I'm Georgina Godwin.
On the show today, my guest is an Australian son of a bus driver.
He went into business at the age of 21 and today is a self made millionaire entering politics.
The combination of his salesmanship, marketing skill, leadership and shrewd business sense soon propelled him into the ministry.
He was the member for Parliament in the Federal House of Representatives for 13 years from 1977 and held various ministerial portfolios including arts, sports, environment and territories.
In 1986 he was named Australian of the Year by the Australian newspaper.
And he was the founding chairman of the Tourism Task Force, now the Tourism and Transport Forum, and responsible for the throw another shrimp on the Barbie tourism ad starring Paul Hogan, which contributed to an extraordinary jump in visitor numbers to Australia in the late 1980s.
John Brown, congratulations on your book.
It's really, really fascinating.
The Minister for Good Times.
What a job title.
You didn't find it too bawdy?
No, I thought it was fantastic.
It's a very honest appraisal.
Mishear's life John, let's start then right at the beginning.
Tell us about your parents and your upbringing.
Well, my parents were very much working class.
My mother was a very Irish extraction.
My father had been Scottish, he was a Presbyterian.