Ричард Батлер: Австралиялық дипломаттың өмірі мен қызметі

Australian diplomat

Richard William Butler, (born 13 May 1942) is a retired Australian public servant, United Nations weapons inspector, and a former Governor of Tasmania.

Butler was born in Coolah in rural New South Wales. He grew up in Sydney and was educated at Randwick Boys High School, the University of Sydney and the Australian National University, Canberra. He married Susan Ryan in 1963 and they had a son and a daughter; they divorced in 1972. Butler joined the Australian Department of External Affairs in 1965, and served in a number of postings until 1975, when he resigned to become Principal Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition, Gough Whitlam, who had recently been dismissed as prime minister. In 1983 the next Australian Labor Party Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, appointed him as Australia's Permanent Representative on Disarmament to the United Nations in Geneva. He was next appointed Australian Ambassador to Thailand, and played a major part in the Cambodian peace settlement, working closely with then Foreign Minister Gareth Evans. He was Australian Ambassador to the United Nations from 1992 to 1997. His term was ended by the new Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, after Butler's intensive lobbying had failed to win Australia a seat on the Security Council in 1996. In a 2000 memoir The Greatest Threat, Butler acknowledged that his "high energy, high visibility activities had served as a distraction and clearly alienated some nations whose votes we might otherwise have won". Butler is currently a Global Diplomat in Residence and Clinical Professor at the Center for Global Affairs at the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies; and is also a professor at the School of International Affairs at Penn State University in State College.

Criticisms of various kinds continued thereafter. When Butler broke with established vice regal convention against public comment on domestic and international affairs, Premier Paul Lennon (who had replaced Jim Bacon in February 2004), specifically requested him to refrain from doing so. In August 2004, the Tasmanian Liberal Opposition Leader, Rene Hidding, withdrew his support for Butler, and a federal Labor Member of Parliament, Harry Quick, also criticised him. In the same week, three long serving staff members at Government House resigned amid claims of difficulties in working with Butler and his wife. These departures occurred while Butler was once again on leave, this time for two weeks, during which time he made three public appearances in performances of Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait (a work for speaker and orchestra) with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Reporters tried to speak to Butler while on his way to rehearsals of this work, but were told to leave him and his wife alone as they were "on holiday". He was nevertheless billed for the performance as "The Hon Richard Butler, Governor of Tasmania". When asked for his view of the growing public controversy about Butler's performance and behaviour as governor, Prime Minister John Howard said he would not comment on a matter reserved for state authorities, but he nevertheless made the point, repeatedly, that "this was not my appointment".

On 9 August 2004, after a three hour meeting with Lennon, Butler announced his resignation, citing a desire to end a "malicious campaign" against him and his wife. Butler's supporters held he had been hounded from office by monarchists and the Murdoch press; the Murdoch owned Hobart newspaper The Mercury having run a series of articles critical of Butler's performance in the lead up to his resignation. These aired such matters as his lengthy honeymoon, his alleged inability to get on with staff, and his allegedly arrogant and patronising manner. On 5 August The Mercury carried an article reporting the University of Tasmania political scientist Richard Herr as saying that "recent goings on at Government House appeared inconsistent with legislation attached to the office of Governor." Some of the matters raised included an alleged breach of protocol with the welcome of the Botswanan High Commissioner and a luncheon given for him, at which Jennifer Butler officiated. The point was made that the spouse of a governor has no status in their own right during the governor's absence, and that this function should have been hosted by the Lieutenant Governor, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania, the Hon William Cox. Upon Butler's resignation, William Cox was appointed acting governor. He was appointed Governor of Tasmania later that year. The day after Butler's resignation, Lennon said that he had offered Butler an ex gratia payment of A$650,000 in compensation for the loss of four years' expected income from the remainder of his five year term. This payment, which was not constitutionally required, was widely criticised in the press and by the Tasmanian Opposition. Both the Prime Minister, John Howard and the federal Opposition Leader, Mark Latham, were critical of the payment, which Latham described as "sickening." The Butler fallout resurfaced briefly in September 2005 following the release of Latham's diaries. Latham had earlier resigned as Federal ALP leader in January of that year amid acrimonious circumstances with his ALP colleagues. His diaries claimed that Lennon had discussed with him Butler's payout despite being publicly critical about it. Latham also wrote that Butler as Tasmania's governor was drunk at the 2004 Danish royal wedding and it cost him his job. Opposition Leader Rene Hidding questioned Lennon in Parliament about Latham's claims on the payout. Lennon dismissed what Latham wrote in his diaries saying that they are "a tirade of invective and abuse levelled at everybody and anybody who had anything to do with Mark Latham. The man has no credibility. Anything he says or writes has no credibility."

Butler was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 1988 Australia Day Honours, "In recognition of service to international peace and disarmament". On 5 September 2003, while Governor designate of Tasmania, Butler was promoted to Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).