Guide to the Papers of John Langmore
MS 9939
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: ©2006.
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Langmore, John, 1939-
- Title
- Papers of John Langmore
- Date Range
- 1976-1996 (bulk 1984-1996)
- Collection Number
- MS 9939
- Extent
- 2.85 metres (17 ms boxes + 1 small folio box)
- Physical Facet
- Legacy extent derived from Hume 1 & 2 combined locations spreadsheet.
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Special Collections (Manuscripts)
Introduction
Scope and Content
The John Langmore Papers consist largely of material collected by Langmore whilst he was the Member for Fraser in the House of Representatives between 1984 and 1996. They include: electorate office files; books, articles, addresses and reports written, co-authored or edited by Langmore; correspondence; media releases; research material; and parliamentary papers such as questions on notice and Hansard extracts. There is also a smaller amount of material dating from 1976-1984 when Langmore held the positions of parliamentary Labor Party Economic Advisor and Senior Private Secretary to the Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations.
Access
The collection is available for reference.
Copying and Publishing
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of John Langmore, National Library of Australia, MS 9939, [series and/or file number]'.
Provenance
The papers were donated to the Library by John Langmore in 1996.
Related Material
In the Oral History Collection there is a sound recording of an address to the National Press Club (Canberra) by Langmore and John Quiggin in 1994 at a launch of their book, Work for All.
In the Manuscripts Collection there is a manuscript of a discussion paper by Langmore, 'A critical assessment of Australian economic policy for Papua New Guinea between 1945 and 1970' (1972) at MS 4633.
The Library also holds a number of Langmore's published works.
Arrangement
Amongst the papers was one carton of suspension files which was marked "Electorate office personal files". The arrangement of the papers inside these files has been maintained but the files themselves have been arranged in chronological order by the Library. The remainder of the papers when received were filed in manila files or were loose in cartons. For this material, a series arrangement reflecting Langmore's interests and activities has been imposed by the Library. Series 4, Economics, and Series 5, Other issues and interests, have been collated from different types of papers (ie correspondence, media releases, Hansard excerpts, articles) which were loose but contiguous when received, and relating to specific subjects. Series 2, Economic Adviser, has been brought together by the Library from manila files and loose papers which date from 1976-1984, when Langmore held the positions of Economic Adviser to the Leader of the Opposition, Economic Adviser to the Treasurer and Senior Private Secretary to the Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations.
Biographical Note
John Vance Langmore was born in Berwick, Victoria, on 3 September 1939, the son of Leonard and Phoebe Langmore. Langmore attended Dandenong High School and Scotch College in Melbourne, and completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree and Diploma of Social Studies at University of Melbourne, a Master of Economics degree at Monash University and a Diploma of Development Economics at Cambridge. He married Diane Adcock in 1964 and they have three daughters.
Langmore was a lecturer in economics at the University of Papua New Guinea 1969-1973 and Assistant Director of the National Planning Office in PNG 1973-1976 in the lead-up to self-government and independence.
Langmore joined Gough Whitlam's parliamentary staff in 1976 as Economic Adviser, a position he held until 1983. After a short period as Senior Private Secretary to the Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, Langmore won and retained the Commonwealth seat of Fraser ACT for the Labor Party from 1984 to 1996. He joined the ALP's Centre Left faction and served on the executive but later moved to the Left. He was considered a disruptive backbencher by senior Labor Party MPs due to his outspoken criticism of what he saw as a move away from the policies with which Labor had won the 1983 election. As Member for Fraser, Langmore advocated self-government for the ACT. He served on parliamentary committees on the ACT, Trade, ASIO, and Environment, Recreation and the Arts. At an international level he was a member of Parliamentarians Global Action for Disarmament, Development and World Reform and Multinational Parliamentarians Involved in Oversight of the IMF and the World Bank.
Langmore has written and been published widely both as an individual and as a parliamentarian. His main focus is on policy development in the areas of economics, the environment, PNG, town planning, social reform and the UN. A book, Work for all : full employment in the nineties, was co-authored with John Quiggin and published in 1994, and Dealing with America : the UN, the US and Australia, was published in 2005.
Langmore has been a member of many organisations, including the Australian Labor Party, The Royal Australian Institute of Public Administration, the Economic Society, the Industrial Relations Society, Amnesty International, the Industry Policy Unit, the Press Club, the International Council, the Society for International Development, the Oikumene (Oecumene) Foundation and the the Council of the National Library of Australia. He was also a founding board member of the Australia Institute, a Certified Practising Accountant and was an active member of the Anglican and Uniting Churches and the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship in Canberra.
In 1997 Langmore moved to New York to take up the post of Director of the Division for Social Development at the United Nations Secretariat. He was also the Representative of the International Labour Organization to the UN until 2003.
Clack, John. On his own terms, The Canberra Times, 18 August 1990, pp. PB1-3.
Langmore, John. Disengagement from the UN carries a high cost, The Canberra Times, 4 November 2004, p. 13.
Taylor, Lenore. The member for plain speaking, The Canberra Times, 18 May 1988, pp. 25 and 30.
Item Descriptions
Series 1. Correspondence, 1983-1996
This series was compiled by the Library from two files and a small quantity of loose correspondence and includes thank you letters, correspondence with Members of Parliament including Paul Keating, Ralph Willis and Gareth Evans, greeting cards and letters of support and congratulations. Correspondence relating to specific issues in which Langmore was involved or positions he held may also be found in other series. File 1 in this series was labelled 'Running file 9 March - ' by Langmore, and its contents date back to 1983 when Langmore was Economic Adviser to the Treasurer and in the following year, Senior Private Secretary to the Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations. The contents of files 2-4 were originally in a single file labelled 'Particularly encouraging' and 'Commendatory letters'.
Correspondence, 1983-1987 (File 1)
Includes Labor Party policy papers and copies of letters from Paul Keating to Bob Hawke about the 1983 budget.
Correspondence, 1985-1996 (File 2_4)
Includes a fax from Gough Whitlam in 1992 about some questions on notice.
Series 2. Economic Adviser, 1976-1984
Between 1976 and 1983 Langmore was Economic Adviser to the Leader of the Opposition and to the Treasurer after the Labor Party won the 1983 election. For a short period before becoming Member of Parliament for the ACT seat of Fraser in 1984 he was also Senior Private Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Industrial Relations. The papers in this series have been brought together by the Library. However papers from this period can also be found elsewhere in the collection, particularly in Series 1, General Correspondence and Series 5, Economics.
Series 3. Fraser electorate office files, 1984-1996
This series consists of a sequence of suspension files in rough chronological order. The files were contained in a single carton when received by the Library and identified as 'Electorate office personal files'. They include media releases, articles and addresses by Langmore, Hansard excerpts, correspondence and handwritten notes. The first four files were marked with post-it-notes numbered 8-11, but in the order 11, 8-10 when re-arranged chronologically by the Library. File 7 was correctly labelled '1993'. Each file has been placed in archival files, in some cases filling a number of files. In this case they are identified as (eg) 'Electorate office file, (date range), Part 1 of 3'. The material in this series may duplicate papers in other series.
Electorate office files, 1984-1988 (File 1_3)
Includes 1984 Fraser campaign launch material, a photograph of Langmore and papers relating to drugs, world trade, International Bank, A.C.T., social justice, Very Fast Train, anti-nuclear and employment issues.
Electorate office files, 1988-1990 (File 4)
Includes articles and addresses on defence, Canberra and welfare issues.
Electorate office files, 1988-1989 (File 5_6)
Includes articles and addresses on security, freedom and justice, banks, human rights and infrastructure issues.
Electorate office files, 1988-1989 (File 7_8)
Includes articles and addresses on ACT Legislative Assembly, third world debt, disarmament, Papua New Guinea, anti-nuclear and unemployment issues.
Electorate office files, 1989-1991 (File 9_10)
Includes articles and addresses on economic policy, Defence spending, ACT, South Pacific, environment and economy, social planning, security and social infrastructure issues.
Electorate office files, 1991 (File 11_13)
Includes articles and addresses on market failure, disarmament, Papua New Guinea, foreign aid, economics university courses, infrastructure, media ownership, defence and biodiversity issues.
Electorate office files, 1991-1993 (File 14_15)
Includes articles and addresses on population, CSIRO funding, unemployment, biodiversity, APS reform, the Australian film industry, tax and infrastructure issues.
Electorate office files, 1992-1993 (File 16_18)
Includes articles and addresses on education, APS reform, employment and regional security issues.
Electorate office files, 1994-1995 (File 19_21)
Includes articles and addresses on currency, Tobin Tax, environmental and employment issues.
Series 4. Parliament, 1984-1996
This series has been created by the Library from loose papers and a number of manila and plastic files of papers dating from the period 1984-1996 when Langmore was the Federal Member for Fraser. It consists of material not fitting into other series from this period, such as pre-selection and election material, the contents of a ring-binder relating to a number of different parliamentary activities in which Langmore was involved and bundles of Hansard extracts, questions on notice and media releases.
Series 5. Economics, 1976-1996
This series consists of files and loose papers on subjects which fall within a broad definition of 'economics'. This includes: employment and unemployment; income and wages; restructure of the public service; taxation; international debt, debt relief and overseas aid; the International Monetary Fund and World Bank; the exchange rate and currency markets; foreign investment; public infrastructure; and a review of economics courses in universities. No attempt has been made by the Library to arrange the papers, which consist of articles written by Langmore and other writers, speeches, press releases, correspondence, Hansard excerpts, reports and press clippings. Some manila files of papers and juxtaposed loose items which date from Langmore's period as Economic Adviser between 1976 and 1983, and which were not interfiled with papers of a later period, have been transferred to Series 2. Other papers from this period remain in this series and can be located by date. Papers relating to Langmore's other interests and activities can be found in Series 6.
Economics, c. 1990-1994 (File 1)
Includes a copy of the ALP National Economic Development Standing Policy Committee's Infrastructure Report, 1991.
Economics, 1987, 1990-1996 (File 3)
Includes items on the Tobin tax and a report, Maximising employment, 1992.
Economics, 1988-1996 (File 4)
Includes a copy of the 'Statement of accord by the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Council of Trade Unions regarding economic policy'.
Economics, 1980-1983 (File 8)
Includes a copy of 'Foreign investment : Labor's policy, September 1980'.
Economics, 1978-1982 (File 9)
Federalism sub-committee papers, relating to legislation, the Loan Council and federal-states financial arrangements.
Economics, 1987, c. 1991-1993 (File 13)
Two reports: 'Constructing and restructuring Australia's public infrastructure', 1987; Australia's current account deficit and overseas debt, 1991; and an issues paper: Restoring full employment, 1993.
Economics, c. 1986-1988 (File 16)
Contents of a file marked 'Debt project' and including Parliamentarians Global Action material.
Economics, 1979, 1983 (File 18)
Contents of a file marked 'The Accord' and including a paper presented by Ralph Willis at the Labor Economists Conference, 1979, on the 'Role of incomes policy' and a discussion paper, 'The relationship between the Australian Labor Party and the Trade Unions' (1983?).
Economics, c. 1984-1991 (File 19)
Papers relating to an inquiry on distribution of wealth in Australia.
Economics, 1979-1985, 1992 (File 21)
Mainly on employment issues, including a draft 'Proposal for systematic reduction in the size of the Australian labour force', with a covering letter to Ralph Willis from John Button, 1983.
Economics, 1976-1980 (File 22)
Papers relating to a resource rent tax, including letters from Anthony Clunies Ross, 1976-1977.
Economics, 1981-1984, 1990-1992 (File 24)
Mainly on currency exchange including a copy of a statement by Bob Hawke on devaluing the Australian dollar (no date).
Economics, 1980-1986, 1992 (File 26)
Includes a draft background brief on worker co-operatives from Lorna Tilley, 1984, and two addresses by Ralph Willis, 'Financial priorities for the eighties', 1980, and 'Social and political implications of the Campbell Report', 1982.
Economics, c. 1992-1994 (File 29)
Mainly on employment, plus a copy of a PRSC Discussion Paper by Langmore, 'Treasury's modus operandi and deregulation: a critical outlook', 1992.
Economics, 1988-1990, 1995-1996 (File 30)
Includes Tobin tax papers and an address by Langmore on 'The origins of the Accord', 1996.
Economics, c. 1988-1996 (File 32)
Includes Langmore's 'Treasury's modus operandi and deregulation: a critical outlook', 1992, and a Current Issues Brief, 'Why corporate downsizing doesn't work ; the 'confessions' of Stephen Roach and other views', 1995-1996.
Economics, 1995-1996 (File 33)
Includes Tobin tax material and a paper by Langmore on 'Culture and the economy' (no date).
Economics, 1995-1996 (File 34)
Mainly on the Tobin tax, including letters from Langmore to Gareth Evans on the subject, and employment issues.
Economics, 1993-1995 (File 35)
Mainly papers relating to the World Summit for Social Development, 1994.
Economics, 1982, 1990-1992 (File 36)
Mainly on infrastructure development and employment, plus an address by Ralph Willis on 'The public sector in the 1980s : managing more with less', 1982, and a Public Information Paper by Russell Mathews, 'Is there an alternative economic policy', 1992.
Economics, 1977 (File 38)
Papers relating to a seminar on Hugh Stretton's book, Capitalism, socialism and the environment, 1976.
Economics, c. 1978-1995 (File 40)
Includes papers on exchange rates and a review of university economics courses.
Economics, 1992-1996 (File 43)
Includes Tobin tax papers and a copy of a CEDA Research Study by Fred Argy on 'Financial deregulation: past promise, future realities', 1995.
Economics, 1978-1983 (File 44)
Includes a discussion paper on 'Alternative modes of living and working', 1983, a paper entitled '"Radical" approaches to the unemployment problem', 1983, and a draft speech by Ralph Willis on 'What degree of government regulation', 1981.
Series 6. Other issues and interests, 1984-1996
This series has been compiled by the Library from files and loose papers which reflect some of the issues and activities in which Langmore was involved. Whilst these papers have largely been separated from those relating to economics as defined in Series 5, there are in some instances economic aspects to the issues represented in this series, or papers on economics apparently unrelated to the issues but retained with the issues material as this was how Langmore filed it. The papers in this series include correspondence, cuttings, articles and addresses by Langmore, media releases and publications, and in the case of the Australia Institute material, agendas and minutes.
Disarmament, anti-nuclear, defence and peacekeeping issues, c. 1985-1987 (File 1)
Includes papers on international debt and financial reform.
Disarmament, anti-nuclear, defence and peacekeeping issues, 1985-1986, 1990-1995 (File 2)
Includes: ANU Peace Research Centre Working Paper No. 118 on Conflict resolution and peacekeeping in the post-Cold War era : implications for regional security by Trevor Findlay, 1992; a letter from Defence Minister Robert Ray with a copy of a peacekeeping policy paper, 1992; and a letter from Minister for Foreign Affairs Gareth Evans with a copy of a written statement to the International Court of Justice on the legality of nuclear weapons, 1994.
Disarmament, anti-nuclear, defence and peacekeeping issues, 1989-1990 (File 3)
Papers relating to the Society for International Development Regional Conference, Jakarta, 1990.
Disarmament, anti-nuclear, defence and peacekeeping issues, 1990-1993 (File 4)
Includes a copy of ANU Peace Research Centre Working Paper No. 95 on Increasing security in the East Asia-Pacific region by Langmore, 1990, and Common responsibility in the 1990's : the Stockholm Initiative on Global Security and Governance, 1991.
Disarmament, anti-nuclear, defence and peacekeeping issues, c. 1993-1995 (File 5)
Includes Parliamentarians for Global Action papers and copies of a paper by Desmond Ball, 'The East Coast Armaments Complex (ECAC) location project : strategic and defence aspects', 1993
Environmental issues, 1987, c. 1990-1995 (File 6)
Includes parliamentary committee reports on: Greenhouse response - effectiveness of the implementation of an interim program, 1994; Biodiversity : the role of protected areas, 1993; and Commonwealth environmental impact assessment processes, 1994.
Environmental issues, 1984, 1991-1995 (File 7)
Includes papers relating to a proposal for international publication of a parliamentary committee report, tentatively entitled 'Securing ecological diversity : a strategy from Australia', 1995.
The Australian Capital Territory, 1988, 1991-1995 (File 8)
Includes parliamentary reports on: the Canberra leasehold system, 1988; City Hill : review of the draft master plan, 1993; and Our Bush Capital : protecting and managing the national capital's open spaces, 1992.
Papua New Guinea, c. 1985-1991 (File 10)
Consists of an article by Langmore and Roger Berry on 'Wages policy in Papua New Guinea', two articles by Langmore on PNG and a PNG-Australia Colloquium program, 1988.
Series 7. Writings, c. 1985-1996
Most of Langmore's addresses, articles and publications are in other series amongst related material. This series contains a single article, a number of speech texts and a proof of his book, Work for all, written in collaboration with John Quiggin (1994).
1 file and 1 packet.
Series 8. Australian Labor Party, 1976-1996
This series contains papers relating to ALP economic policy committees in 1981-1982 and 1994, an ACT Branch membership list from 1995 and an oral history transcript of an interview with, and an obituary for, long-term ALP member and staffer Netta Burns (1993 and 1996).
3 files
Series 9. Miscellaneous papers, c. 1991
This series consists of papers relating to Langmore's appointment to the post of Director for Social Development in the United Nations Secretariat, 1996, two videos and a children's project on the House of Representatives.
1 file, 1 packet and 1 folio
Container List
| Series | File/Item | Box |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-6 | 1 |
| 2 | 1-5 | 2 |
| 3 | 1-3 | 2 |
| 3 | 4-9 | 3 |
| 3 | 10-14 | 4 |
| 3 | 15-20 | 5 |
| 3 | 21-26 | 6 |
| 4 | 1-10 | 7 |
| 4 | 11-12 | 8 |
| 5 | 1-4 | 8 |
| 5 | 5-12 | 9 |
| 5 | 13-20 | 10 |
| 5 | 21-27 | 11 |
| 5 | 28-35 | 12 |
| 5 | 36-43 | 13 |
| 5 | 44-46 | 14 |
| 6 | 1-5 | 14 |
| 6 | 6-11 | 15 |
| 6 | 12-13 | 16 |
| 7 | 1-2 | 16 |
| 8 | 1 | 16 |
| 8 | 2-3 | 17 |
| 9 | 1-2 | 17 |
| 9 | 3 | Folio |