Tom Playford retires on a record of integrity, thrift and putting South Australia first always
Tom Playford marching in an Anzac Day parade down King William Street, Adelaide.
Tom Playford retired from South Australian parliament in 1968 with a pension of $72 a week. He’d resisted higher pensions to ministers or long-serving MPs throughout his time as premier (1938-65). His main assets at retirement were the orchard he’d inherited from his father, his house and a 1963-model Holden car.
The Playmander biased voting system aside, Playford’s premiership was noted for integrity, with no complaints of corruption or government largesse. Playford forbad his ministers from sitting on the board of directors of public companies or owning shares.
In retirement, he returned to his Norton Summit orchard and growing orchids but kept his interest in South Australian politics without giving public opinions. He was consulted in private by Liberals and his closeness to Labor figures didn’t end either, offering advice to their new South Australian ministers and assisting in a memorial to the former Labor prime minister John Curtin.
In line with his South Australia-first repute, Playford also privately lobbied the Liberal government in Canberra on behalf of the state Labor administration for more infrastructure funding. In 1977, when Don Dunstan celebrated his 50th birthday party, Playford was the only Liberal invited – along with former and future Labor prime ministers Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke.
Playford served on the boards, notably the electricity trust and housing trust, among others. This also created some difficulties with the other board members, who were reluctant to disagree with their former boss, even when he stumbled from lack of scientific knowledge.
But Playford’s legendary thrift didn’t stop. He was constantly forcing the trusts to use cost-saving methods and old vehicles for their work. This extended to his family property. He vigorously opposed his son's plan to install a new irrigation system in the orchard.
