One of the WA legal profession’s best-known figures, and the state’s next governor, almost became an astronomer.
SOON-TO-BE governor of Western Australia, respected Queens Counsel and philanthropist Malcolm McCusker, hopes to use his new position to promote his work with WA charities and educate the public on the importance of giving back to the community.
Having dedicated his life to the legal profession and his philanthropic interests, Mr McCusker has been awarded some of the nation’s top accolades, including an appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia and WA Citizen of the year.
To provide structure for his fundraising efforts, Mr McCusker set up the McCusker Charitable Foundation, which has donated more than $4 million to more than 60 charity organisations during the past financial year.
Perth born and raised, Mr McCusker told last week’s WA Business News Success & Leadership breakfast that, while his parents played a major role in shaping his personality, it was his father’s great love of learning that had the strongest influence on him.
Now considered one of WA’s top legal minds, in his youth Mr McCusker had thoughts of studying astronomy or becoming a farmer.
“When I graduated from Perth Modern, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so my father said ‘Why don’t you do law? Law is a good background for business,’ so I enrolled in law school,” Mr McCusker says.
After two years of ‘articles’ at Perth law firm Kott Wallace and Gunning, Mr McCusker still didn’t know whether a legal career was for him.
To his surprise, partner Bob Wallace offered the then 24-year-old Mr McCusker the opportunity to join the firm as a partner.
“I still hadn’t made up my mind and he just asked if I’d like to be a partner,” Mr McCusker says. “And I said, ‘well I haven’t got any money’, but they kindly made me a partner and I remained a partner for around six years, before I opened by own firm.”
Mr McCusker also threw himself into other business ventures. Among these was such the Town & Country Building Society, which he formed with his father James McCusker in 1964, with the latter subsequently knighted for services to the finance and building industries.
“He sat down with me at the kitchen table and said to me ‘I’m thinking of forming a building society’ and Perth Building Society was the only building society in Perth at the time and they had a virtual monolopoly, so they weren’t too pleased with us encroaching on their territory.” Mr McCusker says.
Town & Country became a prominent part of Perth’s financial landscape with 31 branches, 103 agencies and almost 650 staff.
However, Mr McCusker’s love of the law and natural ability as an advocate lead him to focus on his legal career.
He was appointed as a Queens Counsel in 1982 and has appeared as counsel in the supreme, federal and high courts and in front of the Privy Council.
“I’ve greatly enjoyed the practice of law, it has been a very challenging and rewarding profession; the Privy Council was a fantastic experience, standing up before the top judges in the Commonwealth system, standing up on a pill box and debating virtually all day,” Mr McCusker says.
Mr McCusker has acted pro-bono in a number of cases, including Andrew Mallard’s successful appeal.
He is currently assisting the state coroner in the inquiry into the Christmas Island boat tragedy of December last year.
“Some of the most gratifying cases I have been involved in are where someone has suffered injustice and wants to right the wrong,” Mr McCusker says.
“However, I’m about to hang up those boots and it’s not without some pangs that I’m doing so.”
Premier Colin Barnett appointed Mr McCusker as the next Governor of Western Australia in March.
Upon taking up the role when the incumbent, Ken Michael, steps down in July, Mr McCusker says he intends to donate his $422,678 salary to charities, including the Lions Eye Institute and Salvation Army.
However, putting away his silks for the governor’s job was not an easy decision, but Mr McCusker says that after discussing it at length with his wife, Tonya, it appeared to be the right decision.
“I wasn’t all that keen to give up practising law, but in the end, Tonya and I decided that this was an opportunity to further philanthropic causes and to encourage others in philanthropy,” he says.
Such causes include the McCusker Charitable Foundation – which was set up with his wife, his sister Carolyn and future Supreme Court judge James Edelman – and the McCusker Alzheimer’s Research Foundation.
“My philanthropic attitude is very much shared by my father, who said you should always give back to the community what you can,” Mr McCusker says.
“Initially I was simply giving money, but I never had time to follow through to see what was happening to it; with the set up of foundation, it has become more structured over the past six years.”
The foundation was established to improve health and education in WA by accepting applications for assistance, with a particular focus on medical research, the welfare and education of young people, indigenous communities, and arts and the environment.
“Our primary focus has always been on medical research but we are also very interested in youth education; it’s particularly important for our community that we bring together our indigenous people so that they can fit into mainstream society, and in turn encourage others by their example,” Mr McCusker says.
Agriculture and farming in WA is another area close to Mr McCusker’s heart.
He hopes to promote the efforts of farmers and encourage others to assist them.
“I think the farming community is made up of very admirable people, they’re versatile and they have to be a Jack of all trades,” says Mr McCusker, himself a rural landowner.
“I enjoy the thought of not just pushing paper around all the time, they are actually producing something for people to eat.”
For those wanting to become involved in philanthropy, Mr McCusker highlights the importance of carrying out due diligence on the charity organisation before donating.
“The same general principles apply to both business and philanthropy,” he says.
“Honesty and integrity apply to both fields and it’s important to examine the charities you are thinking of supporting to make sure they are being run efficiently, for instance by looking at the balance sheets to see if there is too much money being wasted on overheads.”
In addition, Mr McCusker says he would like to see some of the charitable bodies amalgamated to promote better efficiency and quality.
To encourage dollar-for-dollar funding of such causes, Mr McCusker says a ‘partnership role’ needs to be formed between businesses or individuals and government.
“If say a business or a family is proposing to make a donation to a particular cause ... I think a little pressure can be put on government to match it and if they’ve seen that someone has looked at this cause and seen that it’s worthwhile, there is every chance you can persuade a government to go along with it,” he says.
Mr McCusker will take over as WA’s 31st governor of on July 1.
“I hope I will be viewed as someone who has done their best to instill the spirit of philanthropy throughout our community and help to make our community more inclusive and that would be a desirable outcome if we can achieve that,” he says.
