Chris Higgins (Australian public servant)
Chris Higgins | |
|---|---|
| Secretary of the Department of the Treasury | |
| In office 19 September 1989 – 6 December 1990 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Christopher Ian Higgins 3 April 1943 Murwillumbah, New South Wales |
| Died | 6 December 1990 (aged 47) Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory |
| Nationality |  Australian |
| Spouse(s) | Paula Abigail Gomberg (m. 1966–1990; his death) |
| Alma mater | Australian National University University of Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Public servant |
Christopher Ian Higgins (3 April 1943 – 6 December 1990) was a senior Australian public servant and economist. He was Secretary of the Department of the Treasury from September 1989 until his death.
Life and career[edit]
Chris Higgins was born in Murwillumbah, New South Wales on 3 April 1943.[1] He attended Ballina High School.[2]
In 1960, Higgins came to Canberra as a Commonwealth Bureau of Statistics Cadet.[3] He graduated in 1964 from the Canberra University College (now known as the Australian National University) with a Bachelor of Economics with first class honours in economics and statistics.[3] He then won a postgraduate scholarship to study for his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania under supervisor Lawrence Klein.[3]
Between 1975 and 1989, Higgins was a senior executive officer in the Department of the Treasury, including as a deputy secretary from 1984.[4] He was appointed Secretary of the department in September 1989.[4]
Higgins died in Bruce, Australian Capital Territory from heart failure on 6 December 1990, aged 47, having just won a 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) footrace. Paul Keating by Troy Bramston records that Chris Higgins had a heart condition and was advised to not run marathons. On the evening of 6 December he attended a veterans athletics meeting at the AIS. He first ran a 400m then a 3000m race in 12min 8sec coming in 12th place, immediately succumbing to heart attack afterward.[3]
The Chris Higgins Prize given for outstanding graduate study in Economics at the Australian National University is named for him.
References[edit]
- ^ Keating, Michael, "Higgins, Christopher Ian (Chris) (1943–1990)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, archived from the original on 23 April 2014
- ^ Nethercote, J.R. (7 June 2011). "The top of Treasury's talented table" (PDF). The Canberra Times. p. 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 April 2014.
- ^ a b c d Stone, John, Dr Christopher Higgins, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, archived from the original on 2 March 2014
- ^ a b Hawke, Robert (5 July 1989). "Untitled" (Press release). Archived from the original on 23 April 2014.
 | This Australian government biography is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |