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May 16, 2019 · Bob Hawke, Australia's longest-serving Labor Party prime minister, whose charisma and powers of persuasion earned him near-folk hero status among many Australians, has died at age 89.
May 16, 2019 · Former Australian prime minister and Labor Party leader Bob Hawke, who dominated the country's politics in the 1980s, has died at the age of 89. The charismatic politician, renowned for his...
- 1 min
- A Religious Upbringing
- A Brush with Death
- Family and Work at Odds
- The Remaking of Bob
- Lasting Achievements
- Tipping Point
- Is A Post-Political Life Possible?
Robert James Lee Hawke was born on December 9, 1929, into a religious family in remote Bordertown in South Australia, 250 kilometres from Adelaide. His father, Clem, was a Congregationalist minister and his mother, Ellie, a schoolteacher. It was a loving and moralistic environment in which to be raised and young Bob, aged just nine, was urged by hi...
One weekend, mid-way through his first year of university in Perth, came another turning point. Hawke planned to ride his motorbike to the library to catch up on study, but he was unwell that day and passed out on the bike. The result was a catastrophic crash that ruptured his spleen and left his life hanging in the balance. He has recalled remembe...
As ACTU president Hawke built a reputation as a workaholic, and an alcoholic. His national profile was enormous, and he appeared to veer seamlessly from championing workers' rights, to carousing in front of cameras at the races, or finding refuge in alcohol, beginning with brandy at breakfast time. He had created himself as a man of the people, a l...
After a decade with the ACTU, Hawke's boisterous personality and heavy drinking had become a liability. Still ambitious for politics — he made a failed attempt to win the seat of Corio in 1963 and passed up other opportunities through the 1970s — Hawke knew it was now or never. And he also knew to have a chance at winning a seat, his image and life...
Hawke's first term in office was marked by significant and symbolic change. His government stopped the damming of the Franklin River in Tasmania and uranium mining at Jabiluka, produced a landmark wages accord with the unions and proclaimed Advance Australia Fair the national anthem. Hawke's government established Medicare, first introduced as Medi...
By 1991 the economy was suffering the effects of a severe recession and very high interest rates. The environment was ripe for a leadership challenge, and Hawke's ambitious treasurer Keating — who had struck a private deal with Hawke, which the PM delayed honouring, to transition to the leadership after the 1990 election — delivered that challenge....
In the years after he left politics Hawke remained vocal on political issues and continued to campaign for the Labor Party and the election hopes of Labor leaders. He supported an Australian republic and before the start of the war in Iraq in 2003 Hawke lobbied hard against Australia's involvement, saying later: "My point was that the war was intri...
May 16, 2019 · Bob Hawke, Australia's 23rd prime minister and Labor Party legend, has died at the age of 89. Key points: Bob Hawke was prime minister from 1983 to 1991, making him the longest-serving Labor PM. He is survived by wife Blanche d'Alpuget, and his three children — Susan, Stephen and Rosslyn.
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May 16, 2019 · 1. Floating the Australian dollar. Treasurer Paul Keating and PM Bob Hawke at a press conference in 1983. (National Archives of Australia) Often described as his most significant legacy, Mr Hawke's newly elected government floated the Australian dollar on the global currency market in 1983.
May 16, 2019 · In an era of Australian leadership turmoil, the death of Bob Hawke, a beloved former prime minister, feels especially poignant ahead of a national election on Saturday, writes the BBC's Hywel...
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May 16, 2019 · Bob Hawke, Australia’s longest serving Labor prime minister and a popular figure even into his old age, has died.
