The Faculty of Business and Economics acknowledges the passing of Emeritus Professor John Peter Nieuwenhuysen AM on Sunday, December 8, 2024.
Professor Nieuwenhuysen was a member of the Department of Economics at the University of Melbourne from 1963 to 1989.
Born in South Africa in 1937, John gained a Bachelor’s Degree with Honours in economics and a Master of Arts by thesis at the University of Natal in Durban. According to Professor Emeritus Ross Williams AM’s book 100 Contributors Over 100 Years, John undertook a PhD at the London School of Economics, supervised by Professor Basil Yamey CBE, on the economic development of the African reserves in South Africa.
On completion of his PhD, he moved to Melbourne and joined the Faculty as a lecturer, focusing on teaching development economics and labour economics. Over his tenure, he took leave for projects at the United Nations’ International Labour Organization in Geneva and the Department of Trade and Industry in the United Kingdom, and was promoted to Reader in 1973.
He also held temporary posts at the University of Pittsburgh in 1966 and 1971, and at his alma mater, the University of Natal in 1979. He was a visiting professor at King’s College London.
His research covered the Australian economy, including incomes policy, trade practices, anti-discrimination laws, the economic status of Indigenous Australians, economic growth, and poverty.
John was the Head of the Department of Economics from 1976 to 1978 and chaired a state government inquiry into raising revenue for Victoria, publishing his report in 1983.
He took leave the following year to chair the review of the Liquor Control Act of Victoria. Per The Age in 2006, his recommendations “turned Victoria’s hospitality scene on its head” and led the State Government to change licensing laws for bars, cafes and restaurants.
John resigned from the Faculty in 1989 to take up an appointment as the Foundation Director of the Commonwealth Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and Population Research, an independent, professional research body established within the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs.
He was an Honorary Life Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), having previously served as the Research Director (1982-1989) and Chief Executive Officer (1996-2002). He expanded CEDA’s joint research efforts with universities in Australia on tax and industrial relations reform. He was also a member of the Board of the Australian Multicultural Foundation and become a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 1996.
Professor Nieuwenhuysen was appointed as the inaugural Director of Monash University’s Institute for the Study of Global Movements from 2002 to 2011. He was appointed Emeritus Professor in 2011 and was granted an Honorary Fellowship Award from Monash in 2017.
Between 2002 and 2005, John was the Deputy Chancellor of RMIT University.
In 2003, he became a Member of the Order of Australia for services to independent public and private sector research, liquor law reform, and for his contribution to the debate on immigration, cultural diversity, equity and Indigenous issues.
He wrote and published an autobiography, Ngoanyana: A South African Story, in 2016. A portrayal of growing up white in apartheid-era South Africa, it combines his personal history with that of his home country into an honest, poignant story about political power, the problems still faced by South Africa and reconciliation.
The Faculty of Business and Economics would like to extend its sincerest sympathies to his wife Sue, daughters Sarah and Anna, and his wider family, friends and colleagues. He is warmly remembered as a much-respected colleague and friend whose impressive contributions to Australia and the state of Victoria over a lifetime of public service changed social and economic policy.