Vale Mike Fetter
Members of the Alumni were saddened to hear of the sudden death on 19
September of Mike Fetter. Mike (Michael Max Hermann) Fetter was born in Varel,
Oldenburg, (then) West Germany on 28 April 1948. He came to Australia as a
child and started his education in Cooma before attending Narrabundah High,
after which he completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree at the ANU, where he met and
wooed his future wife Robyn. Mike later completed a Diploma of Applied Science
at the Canberra College of Advanced Education (now the University of Canberra).
Mike’s first public service employment was on a temporary basis in the
Department of Trade, after which he worked as an editorial clerk at The Australian in 1966-67 and then in
1967-69 as an information assistant at the High Commission for Pakistan. His
public service career proper began in the Department of Air in February 1969.
Mike was promoted to a position in the Department of Education and Science
before promotion to the Department of Defence in 1972. It was from Defence that
Mike was promoted to the Joint House Department in April 1980. In those days,
the secretariats for both the Public Works Committee and the Joint Committee of
Public Accounts were located in the Joint House Department.
Mike joined the Department of the House of Representatives in December
1982 when the department took responsibility for the Public Works Committee and
the Joint Committee of Public Accounts. He is best remembered for his long and
dedicated service as a member of the PWC team, but Mike also worked to support
the Joint Committee on Electoral Reform, later the Joint Standing Committee on
Electoral Matters, and did important work in the Bills and Papers Office and
the Office of the Security Controller before retiring in May 2002.
A memorial service for Mike was held at Norwood Park on 27 September.
It was a very well attended service, which would have been a comfort to Robyn
and Mike’s daughters Delia and Leila. Delia and Leila led the tributes paid to
Mike. It became very clear that the qualities that we had seen in Mike at work
were the same as his family and friends had known – the gifts of enthusiasm, of
helpfulness and kindness, and the determination to get on with the task at hand,
seeing things through to their conclusion. It was also clear that Mike had been
very proud to have contributed to the work of the Federal Parliament, and
through it to our nation.
We thank him for his friendship and support and extend our deepest
sympathies to Robyn and Delia and partner Ben (Wollongong) and Leila and
husband Denis (Canberra).
