Emeritus Professor Ronald (Ron) Charles Duncan AO was my former boss and mentor, and over time became a close family friend. With Ron, Premila and I always said we got “two friends for the price of one”, because Rita was just as much a part of our lives. A few years ago, while driving through the highlands of Fiji, Premila even made me stop the car to pick wild red-fleshed guavas especially for the Duncans — a small gesture that captured the affection she has for them both.
Ron’s career was distinguished, wide-ranging and deeply influential. After completing his PhD at the Australian National University in 1972, he undertook post-doctoral research at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) before moving to the University of Minnesota and Harvard University. In 1974, he joined the Industry Assistance Commission, rising to the position of First Assistant Secretary by 1979. He later moved to the World Bank, where he became Chief of the International Trade Division — a role in which he shaped global thinking on trade, development and policy.
In 1994, Professor Helen Hughes — the inaugural Executive Director of the National Centre for Development Studies and herself a distinguished Australian and former World Bank colleague — announced her retirement. I have little doubt that Helen, a former professor and close family friend who was an excellent judge of talent, enticed Ron back to the ANU to succeed her. He returned that year and led with characteristic clarity, integrity and intellectual generosity.
Across his career, Ron received numerous honours: the Centenary Medal for Services to Australian Society through Economics (2003), Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (2006), Officer of the Order of Australia (2014) and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Medal for Contributions to Education and Public Policy (2016). Yet, to my recollection, what Ron valued most were not the medals but the many graduate students and colleagues he mentored over decades — people whose careers and lives he quietly shaped.
I owe much of my own career to Ron’s guidance. Although I had moved to what is now the ANU School of Economics for my PhD, my first major collaboration with Ron was on the landmark “Duncan Report”, commissioned by Prime Minister John Howard in 1996. The report examined how Australia could deepen economic ties with the members of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). Among its many recommendations were proposals for greater trade and labour market integration between Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific island nations. When PM Howard presented the report at the PIF Leaders’ Meeting in Majuro, The Australian noted that some recommendations — particularly those on labour mobility — were unlikely to appeal to the Government. With hindsight, the Duncan Report foreshadowed modern regional frameworks including the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER), the Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) and the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme. Ron was ahead of his time.
Ron was again called on by the Howard Government in 2005, this time to lead a three-person “core group” to review and make recommendations for the Australian aid program. The resulting report provided the basis for the 2006 White Paper on Australian Aid, regarded by many as a, if not the, high point in Australian foreign aid policy.
Ron retired from the ANU in 2002. Savenaca Siwatibau, then Vice-Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific and a close friend, was seeking someone to lead his new initiative: the Pacific Institute of Advanced Studies in Development and Governance (PIASDG). Ron immediately came to mind, and I encouraged Siwa to approach him. Ron moved to Suva after some prodding and served as the Foundation Executive Director of PIASDG from 2003 to 2007, before returning to the ANU as Emeritus Professor and continuing his editorial work for two journals. Remarkably, he edited the Pacific Economic Bulletin from 1994 to 2010 and the Asia-Pacific Economic Literature from 2000 to 2022.
Beyond academia and policy, Ron was a family man and a lover of sport. He was also remarkably multi-talented — a gifted pianist and guitarist, and a fabulous cook. I listened to him play music, watched countless cricket and rugby matches with him and shared many meals, some prepared by Ron himself. He was witty, sharp and — I say this with much affection — a sore loser, especially when Australia lost a game. I never missed an opportunity to remind him of it, and Rita often found herself laughing at our banter, fully aware of what I was up to.
Ron will be deeply missed by his colleagues, students, friends and family. But we must also celebrate a life lived with purpose, generosity and humility. He excelled in so many domains yet remained grounded, kind and unfailingly human.
Vale Ron.
This four-part video interview records Ron reflecting on his life and career. This wide-ranging 2014 Pacific Update speech captures many of Ron’s key research concerns and themes.
Read further tributes from Pacific colleagues.
On behalf of my mother, Rita, and my siblings and our families, I thank you all for your tributes to my Dad. I’d like to call out Satish for his beautiful eulogy at Dad’s funeral, and also to those who contributed to The Fiji Sun, plus the comments above. We are really touched by your words. We have a big hole left in our lives, by the loss of a loving husband, father and grandfather, but we know we are incredibly lucky to have been his family. We could see and feel everything you write about, because it was exactly how he acted at home and with friends. It is a real consolation to know that he made such a positive impact on so many people directly and indirectly. This is what made him happiest. Thank you all. Nicole Duncan
Thanks for the opportunity to say farewell to a good friend and mentor Nicole. We were blessed to have Ron beside us, and blessed most were those closest to him – i.e.; Rita, Rod, Rachel, and of course you!
I want to thank everyone including those who have commented here and others who have reached out to me and the Duncans personally for their kind words on Ron. Let me also thank the many friends, family, and colleagues who attended the funeral service last Friday.
Thanks, Satish. Vale Ron
Dear Satish,
our excellent obituary is a fitting and heartfelt tribute to our great colleague and dear friend. Congratulations!
Chandra
Congratulations Satish on a terrific piece (and likewise your speech at the service today) about a great Australian.
Yes, Indeed. Vale Ron, a quiet giant!
I owe him a personal debt, for enabling me to re-enter the academic environment after years in development consulting and the NGO sector. I had developed an interest in economic informality, particularly as applied to PNG and opportunity presented itself around 2009 to ‘sell’ him on the value of this line of inquiry. I saw the potential of wider and more efficient informal economic activity to improve the reach of market-based economic activities (‘market’ both in the sense of physical marketplaces and in the broader economic sense), with corresponding benefits both for rural producers and urban intermediaries. He encouraged me in this work, publishing an early paper of mine in the lamentably-lost journal Pacific Economic Bulletin and nominating me as an honorary Visiting Research Fellow within the Crawford School. Over time I became more closely associated with the Development Policy Centre but I’m grateful for his continuing interest in and support for my work. This renewal of research activity was made possible by Ron’s kindness in seeing some potential in my ideas. I remain enormously grateful to him.
Ron and Rita were good neighbours in the Carroll St days. Ron was a good golfing companion and very handy with an eight iron.
Thank you, Satish. Vale Ron.
Ron worked with me on a number of labour mobilityand Pacific regional projects including input into some of the research on PACER Plus. He was a lovely man as you know Satish and please pass on my condolences to his family. Jim
Thank you, Satish. I had the honour of knowing, working with and learning from Ron. My condolences to his family.