Don Hopgood

Donald Jack Hopgood (born 5 September 1938) is a former South Australian politician who was the 5th Deputy Premier of South Australia from 1985 to 1992. Hopgood represented the House of Assembly seats of Mawson from 1970 to 1977 and Baudin from 1977 to 1993 for the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, and was promoted to the Labor frontbench in 1973.

Early life and education Hopgood was born on 5 September 1938 at Prospect, South Australia, to Jack and Gwen Hopgood, née Bessell. His father, a member of the Depression generation, left school with few formal qualifications and initially worked at a hardware store before joining Berger Paints, where he eventually became industrial sales manager. His maternal grandfather, Fred Bessell, worked at the Islington Railway Workshops, which employed a large workforce during the Second World War. Hopgood had one younger brother, Melvyn Frederick Hopgood.

Hopgood grew up in Prospect and was a member of the Prospect North Methodist Church Sunday school. Hopgood attended Prospect Primary School, where he began in junior primary. He went to Prospect Primary School and Adelaide Boys' High School. First in his family to attend university. Hopgood then trained to be a teacher at Adelaide Teachers' College on Kintore Avenue.

Teaching career Hopgood taught from 1960

He won a three-year scholarship to study for a PhD from Flinders University, so left teaching to do his PhD His thesis was on history, which was within the School of Social Science at Flinders, titled "A Psephological Examination of the South Australian Labor Party from World War I to the Depression".

Political career Hopgood was elected as the inaugural member for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Mawson in 1970, representing the Australian Labor Party, and served in the seat until 1977. He was promoted to the Labor frontbench in 1973. Following the 1977 redistribution, he became the inaugural member for the newly created seat of Baudin, which he represented until 1993.

Following the 1982 South Australian state election, Hopgood became Deputy Premier and Minister for Environment and Planning in the Bannon Labor government. His appointment raised the status of planning within Cabinet. Ted Phipps, who had been appointed head of the relevant department by the previous Liberal government, remained in the position and continued as a Commissioner. The Planning Act 1982 was regarded by Phipps as providing a basis for reforms to planning in metropolitan and regional local government, while there was little pressure at the time to change the governance arrangements of the City of Adelaide. As Planning Minister, Hopgood, along with Premier John Bannon and other ministers, retained the separate planning and governance arrangements for the City of Adelaide established under the City of Adelaide Development Control Act 1976. Hopgood later recalled that the legislation was distinctive because South Australia maintained separate planning arrangements for its capital city, an arrangement that had been raised with him by planning ministers from other states at ministerial conferences. He attributed its operation to the governance arrangements in place.

In April 1987, Hopgood officially opened Newland Head Conservation Park on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Later career Hopgood was a lay preacher during his early years as a teacher. He later served as moderator of the Synod of South Australia of the Uniting Church in Australia from 1997 to 1999. On 16 May 2005, as chairman of the Water Proofing Adelaide committee, Hopgood discussed measures to supplement Adelaide’s water supply through wastewater reuse, stormwater recycling and aquifer storage. He said more than 15 gigalitres of treated wastewater was already being reused for irrigation and identified further uses for industry and households through dual-reticulation systems. He said proposed wastewater-reuse projects could add 10 gigalitres to Adelaide's water supply and also discussed desalination as a possible future source.

On 10 November 2015, Hopgood gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about his handling of teacher Gregory Robert Knight while Hopgood was South Australian Minister for Education. Hopgood acknowledged that he had been “naive” in providing Knight with a reference after a departmental inquiry had found that Knight had sexually assaulted three students in 1978. Hopgood had accepted Knight’s resignation rather than proceeding with dismissal and did not ensure that the teacher registration board was informed of the findings, despite Crown Solicitor advice supporting dismissal. He later provided Knight with a reference on parliamentary letterhead, believing Knight would use it for employment in music and accepting his assurance that he would not return to teaching. Knight subsequently obtained teaching positions in Queensland and the Northern Territory, where he sexually assaulted further students. Hopgood told the commission that he had regarded his relationship with Knight separately as a teacher and as a bandmaster, having played trumpet in a concert band conducted by Knight.

Recognitions and honours The theatre formerly known as the Noarlunga College Theatre was officially renamed the Hopgood Theatre on 29 October 2008, in recognition of the community service of Hopgood and his wife. Hopgood's band later regularly performed at the theatre, which had previously been referred to as the Noarlunga TAFE Theatre, and he described performing at a venue named after him as "a bit surreal" and said it was a compliment.

Personal life Hopgood became engaged in Whyalla in 1963 and married in 1964; his wife subsequently moved to Adelaide with him and also taught at Westminster School. At the age of 18, Hopgood began learning the jazz trumpet and later played in jazz bands at church and university. He also supports the North Adelaide Football Club. In 1976, one month after its formation, he joined the Onkaparinga City Concert Band, which at the time had about 12 members, and by 28 July 2015 was reported as its longest-serving member.