PRESS RELEASE:

HR Nicholls Society - Copeman Medal Award for 2010

Adam Bisits, President of the HR Nicholls Society

I am pleased to announce that Mr Ray Evans, the retiring President of the HR Nicholls Society, will be presented at the Society's dinner with the Charles Copeman medal for his services to the Society and for the enormous contribution he has made to the cause of establishing a freer labour market. The presentation will be made by former Treasury Secretary, Mr John Stone, himself the first President of the Society and, with Mr Evans, one of the four founding members in 1986. The citation for the medal is as follows:

"IN RECOGNITION OF HIS UNPARALLELED CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLIC POLICY DISCOURSE IN AUSTRALIA, INCLUDING (BUT NOT CONFINED TO) HIS CENTRAL PART IN THE FORMATION OF THE H R NICHOLLS SOCIETY AND ITS ROLE THROUGHOUT THE 25 YEARS OF ITS EXISTENCE. A ROCK OF CONSISTENCY IN A SEA OF CORPORATE COWARDICE HE HAS ALWAYS PLACED PRINCIPLE ABOVE PERSONAL ADVANCEMENT. A STEADFAST FRIEND AND AN HONOURABLE OPPONENT HE IS EPITOMISED IN JOHN BUNYAN'S EVERLASTING WORDS

Who would true valour see. Let him come hither

One here will constant be. Come wind come weather"

The presentation will be made at the annual dinner of the Society at 401 Collins St on Thursday 7 October following the Society's annual general meeting. Principal speakers at the dinner will be Mr Hugh Morgan and Mr Bob Day. Guests attending the dinner include the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Senator Eric Abetz, the Shadow Minister for Finance, Mr Andrew Robb and two of the other four founding members, former Treasurer The Hon Peter Costello, then a barrister-at-law, and Mr Barry Purvis, then an industrial advocate.

Mr Bisits said that, while the Society would greatly miss Mr Evans, members had resolved to continue to press for a labour market that allows employees and employers flexibility to negotiate terms and conditions of employment in the interests of maximising the opportunities for employment.

A Bisits
President

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