My full name is William Gerard Hogan although my preferred name is Gerard, and I am a writer.  I am 82 years of age, still married after fifty-six years. I have three children and eight grandchildren. I live in Canberra without dogs or cats, although there is a possum that camps on my windowsill from time to time. There is also a blue-tongued lizard that likes to shelter in my garage.

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My education included a BA from the Australian National University – Asian Studies, Politics, and Philosophy. I also attended the Joint Services Staff College when I was working in the Department of Defence. I completed the requirements for a Diploma in Public Administration.

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My working life has been as a public servant, where I was responsible, among other things, for preparing Cabinet submissions and letters for ministers. Over more than forty years, I worked in several agencies. Most of the time was in the Defence environment. There were periods of service with the Australian Federal Police (where I was able to see first hand the interactions between the various Australian police forces) and working for the Parliament in the Department of the House of Representatives. Just prior to retirement in 1997, I was an efficiency audit executive for the Australian National Audit Office preparing extensive reports on the operations of Government departments for the Auditor-General and Parliament. Two of the topics I audited and reported on were:

• Proceeds of Crime, which gave me a close look at the operations of the Australian Federal Police and AUSTRAC, their investigative techniques and the relations between the two to focus particularly on money laundering;

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• The Administration of Sports Grants (known notoriously at the time as Sports Rorts). This audit uncovered how a government minister directed grants to electorates as a reward to their own supporters or to find electoral advantage rather than on the basis of relative needs. 

 

Elements of my stories draw on this experience to some extent.

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I have done some freelance writing but nothing significant.

 

For the last ten years or so I have been in full retirement.

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