Bob Hawke

Robert James Lee Hawke (born December 9 1929), Australian trade union leader and politician, was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia. After a decade as leader of the Australian union movement, he entered politics and was Prime Minister within three years. He became by far the longest-serving Labor Prime Minister, and was second-longest-serving Prime Minister overall until December 2004, when John Howard overtook him. But critics continued to dismiss him as a populist, whose focus on "consensus" resulted in the abandonment of many traditional Labor values.

Decline and fall

This was to be Hawke's last triumph, however. A severe economic recession in 1991, caused by a credit blowout requiring the application of very high interest rates, saw the government in considerable electoral trouble. Although Keating was the main architect of the government's economic policies, he took advantage of Hawke's declining popularity to plan a leadership challenge. In 1988 Hawke had responded to pressure from Keating to step down by making a secret agreement (the so-called "Kirribilli compact") to resign in favour of Keating some time after winning the 1990 elections. After Keating made a speech to the Parliamentary press gallery that Hawke considered disloyal, Hawke indicated to Keating that he would renege on the agreement. In June 1991 Keating responded by resigning from Cabinet. Hawke defeated Keating's leadership challenge, but he was clearly a wounded leader.

Related Topics:
1991 - 1988 - Kirribilli - 1990

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Hawke's demise came when the new Liberal leader, Dr John Hewson, released a proposal for sweeping economic change, including a goods and services tax and deep cuts to government spending and personal income tax, in November 1991. Neither Hawke nor his new Treasurer, John Kerin, could mount an effective response to this challenge, and a rattled Labor Party turned to Keating. At a second challenge, on 20 December, Keating defeated Hawke in a party-room ballot. Hawke resigned from Parliament shortly after, apparently with few regrets, although his bitterness towards Keating surfaced in his memoirs.

Related Topics:
Dr John Hewson - Goods and services tax - 1991 - John Kerin - 20 December

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After politics, Hawke entered the business world with considerable success. Hazel Hawke, who for the sake of the Labor cause had put up with the open secret of his relationship with his biographer Blanche d'Alpuget while he was Prime Minister, divorced him, and shortly afterwards he married d'Alpuget. He had little to do with the Labor Party during Keating's leadership, but after the election of the Howard Liberal government in 1996 he became a close supporter of Opposition Leader Kim Beazley.

Related Topics:
Hazel Hawke - Blanche d'Alpuget - Howard - 1996 - Kim Beazley

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Hawke occupies a curious place in the mythology of the Australian labour movement. He cannot be denied the title of Australia's most successful Labor leader, and by 2004, when Howard won his fourth election, the Hawke years had come to seem like a vanished golden age to Labor voters. On the other hand the left blamed Hawke for betraying Labor policies and traditions for the sake of easy populist success, and of laying the foundations for Howard's conservative agenda.

Related Topics:
2004 - Left

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