Lot 32
Herbert (Nugget) Coombs was the head of Australia's Central Bank from 1949 until 1968
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Dimensions:
- Weight 4.75gms : 34.5x21.5mm Exhibited:
- Sports, Medals Literature:
- Memorabilia Medium:
- 601 Circa:
- Collectibles Notes:
- Viewers of a certain English television comedy would probably have a better insight into the important role Herbert Cole (Nugget) Coombs came to play in the post-war development of Australia. In 'Yes Minister' the guileless Jim Hacker rises to become the British Prime Minister taking along for the ride his Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby, who as the gatekeeper of the information that makes it to the desk of his 'boss', largely steers the ship of Government. Coombs served both socialist (Labor) and conservative (Liberal) governments from 1942 until 1968, and from 1949 was the influential head of Australia's Central Bank, first as Governor of the Commonwealth Bank and from 1961 as Governor of the re-badged Reserve Bank. In this role he was at the centre of the economic and social decision-making that created modern Australia. As an economist, Coombs was a Keynesian and, believed that when free markets are in retreat it is Government that needs to step in and spend up big on infrastructure to protect 'jobs and growth'. He was able to put theory into practice in 1943 when he was appointed by the Labor Prime Minister Ben Chifley to the role of Director - General of Post-war Reconstruction. Chifley was a train driver before entering politics and came to rely heavily on Coombs' advice on the economy whose fingerprints can be seen all over the White Paper on Full Employment which obligated the Federal Government to table policy that promoted fair hours and wages for every capable Australian seeking work. As a Labor appointee to the Governorship of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in 1949, it was expected that he would be brushed aside by an incoming conservative government. However, he survived the changeover and the charmed economic run of the Menzies era throughout the 1950s and 60s, when few hard economic decisions needed to be made, saw Coombs continue in the role under successive Liberal (conservative) governments until his retirement in 1968. Outside of his stewardship of Australia's monetary policy he was also heavily involved in the establishment of the Australian National University in Canberra as well as the Australian Council of the Arts. Coombs never joined a political party although he expressed strong socialist leanings and in his later years he became a vocal champion of the Environment and Aboriginal rights. His key motivation in life was to work for a more equitable distribution of opportunity and wealth and, he was certainly no fan of the 'greed is good' mantra of 'trickle-down economics' and 'small government' which began its rise in Margaret Thatcher's Britain. If he were alive today, he would certainly have plenty to say about the 'Wile E. Coyote' inspired economics of the contrarian blowhard Donald Trump.
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