Ian Castles (20 February 1935 – 2 August 2010) was Secretary of the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

Department of Finance (1979–86), the

Australian Statistician The Australian Statistician is the head of the Australian Bureau of Statistics. On 18 June 1906, the first ''Statistician of the Commonwealth of Australia'' was appointed to carry out the provisions of the ''Census and Statistics Act 1905''. Late ...

(1986–94), and a

Visiting Fellow In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Life and career

Castles was born in

Kyneton, Victoria Kyneton ( ) is a town in the Macedon Ranges region of Victoria, Australia. The Calder Freeway bypasses Kyneton to the north and east. Kyneton is on Dja Dja Wurrung, Taungurung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung country. The town has four main streets: ...

and educated at state schools in Sale,

Wesley College, Melbourne , motto_translation = Dare To Be Wise , slogan = A ''True'' Education (2010 – Present) , established = 18 January 1866 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender ...

and

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

. in 1954, he joined the

Australian Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the G ...

in the archives division of the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

, then located in Melbourne, and moved to Canberra in 1957. He joined the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

in 1958. He was appointed Secretary of the Department of Finance commencing from 2 January 1979. In 1986 he was appointed Australian Statistician. Between 1995 and 2000, he was Executive Director and Vice President of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Austr ...

and he was also President of the International Association of Official Statistics. He was a contributor t
Online Opinion
appeared at events hosted by the

Institute of Public Affairs The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a conservative non-profit free market public policy think tankAbout the IPA
...

and

Centre for Independent Studies The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) is an Australian libertarian think tank founded in 1976 which specialises in public policy research. It is based in Sydney and focuses on classical liberal issues such as free markets and limited gover ...

, and published papers with

The Lavoisier Group The Lavoisier Group is an Australian organisation formed by politicians and dominated by retired industrial businesspeople and engineers.skeptic Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...

known for his criticism of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) a ...

, particularly its

Special Report on Emissions Scenarios The Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) is a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that was published in 2000. The climate change scenario, greenhouse gas emissions scenarios described in the Report have been u ...

. His interests included research into the information requirements for public policy (especially at the international level) and the history of economic thought. Ian Castles died on 2 August 2010, aged 75. His death was in Canberra Hospital, from complications following a heart attack.

Honours

Ian Castles was appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in June 1978, and an Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in June 1987.It's an Honour: AO
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Publications

His publications include: *Ian Castles and David Henderson (2003) The IPCC emission scenarios: An economic-statistical critique, ''Energy & Environment'', vol. 14: nos.2–3. *Ian Castles and David Henderson (2003) Economics, emissions scenarios and the work of the IPCC, ''Energy & Environment'', vol. 14, no. 4. *Castles, Ian (2000) 'Reporting on Human Development: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics', In ''Facts and Fancies of Human Development''. Castles, Ian (eds.). Canberra: Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.

References

External links

Ian Castles
at Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
Ian Castles
at Online Opinion
Sourcewatch : Ian Castles
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Castles, Ian 1935 births 2010 deaths Australian statisticians Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Officers of the Order of Australia Secretaries of the Australian Department of Finance People from Kyneton