in state protocol. He declined the position and asked for the portfolio of Minister for Conservation, which ranked thirteenth, but which was responsible for the state's water, soil and forests and which interested him more. He embarked on a program to develop the state's water resources, initiating comprehensive river valley surveys and an infrastructure program constructing new dams and weirs. While his primary motivation was to support farmers, he also directed water releases from state dams to preserve the ecology of the Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve. 1n 1971 he became NSW Minister for Environmental Control and was Australia's first environment minister. He established the state's Pollution Control Commission, which later became the Environmental Protection Authority. Making issues such as the water quality of Sydney Harbor a priority, he sponsored early legislation relating to clean air, clean water, air pollution control and waste disposal. He was also Minister assisting the Premier and Treasurer and participated in negotiations with the federal government on revenue sharing. After falling out with Askin, he resigned from parliament in October 1973, one month before a state election. The Liberal Party lost the seat. Post–political career In business After working as a cadet engineer at the NSW Public Works department, Jack Beale worked as an engineer at Shell Australia and later as a consulting engineer. An energetic man who found life as a parliamentary backbencher too quiet, he started during his parliamentary career over 20 small businesses, including Springs Pty. Ltd. which manufactured springs and paperclips and Rain Spray Sprinklers Pty. Ltd. which manufactured irrigation equipment. He also served as non-executive chairman of Talcott Factors Limited, a listed finance company. When he became a cabinet minister he was forced to give up his business interests but after leaving politics he plunged back into his irrigation business, which he later sold it to James Hardie Limited. He also initiated the private power industry in New South Wales. Starting in 1987, in his 70s, he proposed first to the Unsworth and then the Greiner governments that he develop privately owned and operated hydroelectric power stations at 13 state dams. After fighting bureaucratic opposition and the entrenched interest of the monopoly Electricity Commission, he eventually won a public tender to establish power stations at three dams, Burrendong, Copeton and Glenbawn (near Scone where he had lived as a child). He produced his first electricity in 1995 when he was 78.