Peter Hurley AO Awarded Burnett Medal

Former AHA|SA President, Peter Hurley, has become the first South Australian to receive the national AHA’s highest honour, the Peter Burnett Medal.

The medal recognises an individual who has served the hotel industry with distinction in advocacy, operational and philanthropic work.

Peter served on the AHA|SA State Council for 39 years and was State President for a record 24 years. He also served two terms as National President

Announcing the award, SA President David Basheer described Peter as a “forthright and visionary leader who travelled a parallel national AHA journey with Peter Burnett, becoming great mates along with way”.

“The one time school teacher is a self-made man, who worked his way to the top – after starting out with a small country pub, the Wudinna Hotel in 1975.

“Today, his family’s 11 hotels are amongst South Australia’s most iconic venues. The family also owns the Ivory Tavern in Tweed Heads.”

Reflecting on the honour, Peter paid tribute to Peter Burnett AM, who he described as “a very respected and much missed colleague”.

He was also shocked to learn that he was this year’s recipient.

“A few lines in, it became obvious that David (Basheer) was talking of me,” he said.

“The intro would have been much longer if he had included my mistakes and stuff ups. I was overwhelmed.

“I think it bodes well for the culture of the National AHA that they choose to acknowledge the past service of a former office holder, who has long since transitioned to feather duster status.”

Notable Battles

During his introduction, David highlighted several high stakes negotiations that Peter led, one being the introduction of GST.

“The Howard government not often caught with their legislative pants down,” recalled Peter.

“However, the Opposition decided to exploit the falsehood of the Prime Minister’s assurance that the price of a beer would not increase as a result of the introduction of the GST.

“Mr Howard had been poorly advised by those who didn’t realize the GST added to the higher margin on premise would increase the price. Around $20m had been collected by the time the Senate blocked the approval.

“The government was in a bind.

“It was our suggestion to create a differential excise rate for draught beer that enabled them to get the legislation through. That differential has saved beer drinkers 10 cents a schooner for the last 23 years.

“It’s a great shame that the government created the Foundation for Alcohol Research & Education (FARE) with the money they had wrongly collected. FARE have been a huge pain in the side of the industry from that day on.”

“It also fell to me to present to Treasurer Costello the news that he would have to amend the legislated cut in time for the GST. The bureaucrats obviously had no idea that the night time economy does not roll its day at midnight and therefore the GST could not cut in at midnight on June 30th.

“The last thing Mr Costello wanted to do was to have to re-open and amend the legislation. I convinced him over the lunch table that it was essential.”

Fighting Gillard -Wilkie

The Medal was presented at a special lunch in November.

David regaled the audience with several other battles that Peter fought on behalf of the hotel industry.

“Peter was again National President between 2010 and 2012 when the Gillard-Wilkie mandatory pre- commitment deal threatened our very existence,” he said.

“Strongly supported by (AHA NSW CEO) John Whelan, Peter found himself navigating a compromise with Federal Ministers, factional powerbrokers and various stakeholders.

“However, on that occasion it became evident that to ‘do the deal’ would have been an unmitigated disaster.

“Instead, our team launched a strategically brilliant nationwide campaign and fortunately, that potentially ugly legislation never even made it to a Parliamentary vote.”

Nick Xenophon

David also highlighted how Peter “changed the course of political history at the 2018 South Australian election”, describing it as his “farewell gift to the Industry”.

On of the Directors of Ron and Craig Goodall, it great honour to heartfelt congratulations to Peter Hurley AO for being awarded the prestigious Peter Burnett AM Medal – the first South Australian to receive this esteemed recognition.

“Early polling had Nick Xenophon as preferred South Australian Premier. That’s right … a ‘No Pokies’ Premier!

“Peter and then CEO Ian Horne both displayed enormous courage to put their heads up above the trenches and take on such a powerful force, knowing the inevitable public and media flack that would come their way.

“There was a collective shudder when we learnt of the cost of running a fully effective campaign to defeat the populist anti-industry crusader. But Peter Hurley, in one sentence, changed the course of that entire election.

“He stated, ‘There is no point at the end of this in the

AHA having plenty of money in it’s account, and our members being left with none in theirs’.

“With the help of other AHA State branches, most notably NSW, our impressively funded campaign was so effective Xenophon failed to even win his own seat, and Peter had eradicated our industry’s greatest political threat.”

Philanthropy And Family

Peter Hurley’s community and philanthropic work continues to leave an enduring legacy. In 1996, he created Hotel Care which over the years has donated $18 million in grants to community organisations, charities and sporting clubs.

Deservedly, Peter was recognised as an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2016 Queen’s Birthdays Honours.

“At a personal level, Jenny has been a formidable strength in her own right and backed Peter all the way,” said David.

“They can be justifiably proud of the roles Nick, Samantha and Anna all play within our industry. Let me assure you, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

“Peter has made a substantial lifelong contribution to the AHA and our industry is the better for it.