Robert Hawke | prime minister of Australia | Britannica.com prime minister of Australia Alternative Titles: Bob Hawke, Robert James Lee Hawke Robert Hawke Robert Hawke, in full Robert James Lee Hawke, byname Bob Hawke (born Dec. 9, 1929, Bordertown, S.Aus., Australia ), Australian labour leader and prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. Robert Hawke, 1987. James Pozarik/Gamma Liaison After graduating from the University of Western Australia with a degree in law, Hawke spent three years at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He was briefly an economics researcher at the Australian National University in Canberra and in 1958 joined the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), the umbrella organization of the country’s tightly organized labour movement. As president of the ACTU from 1970 to 1980, Hawke proved to be a brilliant trade-union official, getting favourable settlements for the unions before Australia’s arbitration commissions.

Hawke had also joined the Australian Labor Party (ALP) as a student, and he rose through the ranks to serve as the party’s national president from 1973 to 1978. By the time he successfully ran for Parliament in 1980 as a Labor candidate, Hawke already enjoyed immense national popularity. In February 1983 Hawke was elected leader of the ALP , and in the elections held the following month he led his party to a landslide victory over the Liberal Party , becoming prime minister of Australia. As prime minister, Hawke achieved greater industrial harmony by instituting a unified wage accord among Australia’s fractious labour unions. He also was able to lower the rate of inflation, and he continued to maintain close relations with the United States . Hawke was reelected prime minister in the elections he had called for December 1984. The Labor Party maintained its electoral majority in the 1987 elections, but because of a worsening economy his parliamentary majority was considerably reduced in the 1990 election, and he resigned in December 1991.

Learn More in these related articles: Before office - Robert Hawke - Australia's PMs - Australia's Prime Ministers AUSTRALIA'S PRIME MINISTERS Member for Wills 1980 Early years Robert James Lee (Bob) Hawke was born on 9 December 1929 in Bordertown, South Australia. He was the younger of the two sons of Congregational minister Clem Hawke and Ellie (Lee) Hawke, a former teacher. In 1939, after Bob Hawke’s 18-year-old brother Neil died, the family moved to Perth, Western Australia and settled in the suburb of West Leederville. Hawke attended Perth Modern School, then the University of Western Australia. In 1947, his first year at university, the 17-year-old Hawke had a serious accident on his new Panther motorbike and required critical surgery. Hawke was president of the University’s Student Representative Council and graduated with a Law degree and an Arts degree in 1953. That year Albert Hawke, Bob Hawke’s uncle, became Western Australia’s Labor Premier.

Bob Hawke went to Oxford University in 1953, as Western Australia’s Rhodes scholar. Abandoning his planned degree, he submitted a thesis on the history of wage-fixing in Australia. He graduated with a Bachelor of Letters in 1955 and returned to Australia in 1956. On 3 March 1956, he and Hazel Masterson married in Perth. They had first met eight years earlier. Hawke then enrolled in a doctoral program at the Australian National University and the couple moved to Canberra. Two years later, with the degree unfinished, Hawke took a job with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). The couple, with their infant daughter, moved to Melbourne and bought a house in Keats Street, Sandringham. Bob Hawke was the ACTU’s first paid researcher and advocate before the Arbitration Commission. He soon proved his value. He played a key role in the 1959 basic wage decision and then succeeded in a metal workers’ case before the commission. His workload increased to the point that he was provided with an assistant, Ralph Willis .

In 1962 Hawke was a delegate to a conference for nominees from Commonwealth countries, sponsored by the Duke of Edinburgh and held in Canada. Bob Hawke (centre), president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, at a lunchtime protest rally in Canberra in November 1975, after Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed the government of Gough Whitlam. NAA: A6135, K14/11/75/46 In 1963 Hawke’s first attempt to enter federal parliament failed after he contested the seat of Corio (Victoria) against Liberal minister, Hubert Opperman . In July 1964 the Hawkes moved to a larger house in Royal Avenue, still in the bayside suburb of Sandringham, with their three young children. Their fourth child, a son, had survived only a few days after his birth a year before. In 1965 the family spent three months in Port Moresby, where Hawke was arguing a wage case for Papua New Guinea’s public servants.

ACTU President 1969–80 When Albert Monk retired as president of the ACTU in 1969, Hawke was elected his successor. During his ten years with the ACTU, Hawke transformed wage fixing in Australia and was acknowledged as the system’s best advocate. He had developed good relations not only with unionists but also with his opponents, the employers and government representatives. His powers of persuasion were widely recognised, as was his conviviality – measured by copious beers over negotiations in hotel bars. He made strong friendships with Labor Party and trades union colleagues. In 1971 Hawke travelled to Israel as the first recipient of an award in memory of Senator Sam Cohen . He then travelled to Geneva for a meeting of the International Labour Organisation governing body, of which he had become a member the previous year. From there he arranged to go to Moscow for meetings about the plight of the ‘refuseniks’, Jewish people unable to get permission to leave the Soviet Union. On his return to Melbourne, Hawke delivered the inaugural Cohen lecture. That same year the ACTU was also heavily involved in anti-apartheid demonstrations against the tour of the South African Springboks rugby union team.

Also in 1971 Hawke was elected to the federal executive of the Australian Labor Party and was made Father of the Year. In 1972, the Hawkes were both involved in Labor’s campaign for the federal election. They were prominent at the triumphal celebrations when Gough Whitlam led the party to victory – the first Labor government since Ben Chifley was defeated at the 1949 election. Bob Hawke worked increasingly to resolve rather than instigate industrial disputes. He was active in international labour issues, and in Australia became the most prominent figure in the union movement, with a national reputation as an effective negotiator. In 1973 Hawke was elected federal president of the Australian Labor Party for a five-year term. Now president of both the ACTU and the Labor Party, he represented the labour movement and the Labor Party on governing and advisory bodies, such as the Reserve Bank Board, the Australian Population and Immigration Council, and the Monash University Council. In July 1973 the Hawkes travelled to Singapore, Tehran and Israel for meetings of unionists, and to Geneva for an International Labour Organisation meeting.

In 1974 Hawke went to a labour conference in Belgrade, where Hazel Hawke and their children joined him to travel to Greece for a holiday. Holidays were rare, and this one was interrupted by phone calls and negotiations as usual on both party and ACTU business. At the Bass by-election in 1975, the loss of Lance Barnard’s seat weakened the Whitlam government. When Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed the Whitlam government on 11 November 1975, Hawke immediately left his Melbourne office for Canberra, and was prominent in both the protest demonstrations and the Labor campaign for the December election. Reflecting his preference for resolving rather than promoting industrial disputes, he held firm against calls for industrial action to protest Whitlam’s dismissal. During these years Hawke was fighting a battle against alcoholism. He nonetheless managed a punishing workload. The worst effects of this problem were concentrated within his family life. When they emerged in his work life, they were concealed by close friends and colleagues. Recognition of his work and achievements grew, both in Australia and overseas. In 1976 Hawke returned to Israel, as a guest of the Israeli government, for the dedication of a forest to him.

He was invited to China in 1978 as a leader of the trade union movement and, in January 1979, he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. In May that year he travelled to Moscow and Geneva, where he led unsuccessful negotiations on behalf of Soviet Jewish families attempting to emigrate. Invited to deliver Australia’s ABC radio Boyer Lectures during 1979, Hawke chose as his topic ‘The resolution of conflict’. After a physical collapse in 1979, Hawke began a sustained attempt to conquer his alcohol addiction. In 1980 his popularity in Australia became evident in an opinion poll on preferred Prime Ministers. Though not even in parliament, he far outstripped both Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and Leader of the Opposition Bill Hayden . On 23 September 1980, Hawke announced his intention to make a second attempt to enter federal parliament, and on 14 October was pre-selected for the seat of Wills. He resigned from the ACTU to begin campaigning for the federal election.

Member for Wills 1980 When Hawke won the seat of Wills in October 1980, leader of the federal parliamentary Labor Party Bill Hayden appointed him Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Employment and Youth Affairs. Hawke made his first speech in the House of Representatives on 26 November 1980. At the age of 50, he might have been a new parliamentarian, but he was a seasoned, confident and persuasive politician. In May 1982, the Hawkes travelled to Singapore, London and then Helsinki where Hawke attended an international socialist conference. At the Labor Party’s federal conference in Canberra’s Lakeside Hotel in July 1982, Hawke initiated a challenge to Bill Hayden’s leadership. Hawke lost the Caucus ballot that followed, but the vote was close. The recognition within the party that Hawke’s leadership ability outstripped all others, including Hayden, made a successful challenge just a matter of time. Hawke did not have support from the left wing party faction, but Hayden’s stance against the left’s wish to repudiate uranium mining policy made Hawke a lesser evil.

Senior Labor figures assembled in Brisbane on 1 February 1983 for the funeral of former Prime Minister Frank Forde , with former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam among the pallbearers. After the solemnities, Hayden held a long and emotional meeting with John Button , one of his closest colleagues, and finally agreed to step down. Two days later the Labor Party shadow Cabinet met in Brisbane and Hayden resigned. In Canberra a few hours later Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser met with the Governor-General to request a double dissolution of the parliament. Fraser had hoped to forestall the change of leadership before the election. Hawke was elected Labor Party leader on 8 February 1983, and the federal election was called for 5 March 1983. Hawke was Leader of the Opposition for less than a month, and his most urgent task was the brief election campaign. The Labor Party campaign launch was held at the Opera House, Sydney on 16 February, under the slogan ‘Bringing Australia together’. In the press statement announcing his resignation, Bill Hayden had said that in the current electoral climate, ‘a drover’s dog could lead the Labor Party to victory’.

After a four-week campaign, Bob Hawke led the Labor Party to their greatest election win in 40 years. His parliamentary apprenticeship had lasted just two years. Sources D’Alpuget, Blanche, Robert J Hawke: A Biography, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1982. Hawke, Bob, The Hawke Memoirs, William Heinemann Australia, Port Melbourne, 1994. Hawke, Hazel, My Own Life: An Autobiography, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 1992. McMullin, Ross, The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party, 1891–91, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992. From the National Archives of Australia collection Role of R Hawke in the Papua New Guinea local officers’ case, 1967, NAA: A452, 1967/3430 Bob Hawke | National Museum of Australia Prime Minister from 11 March 1983 to 20 December 1991 Bob Hawke. Photo: National Library of Australia, nla.pic-vn3298879.

Under Bob Hawke, the Australian Labor Party won four elections in a row. During his first term in office, Hawke gained the highest popularity rating of any Prime Minister since the introduction of public opinion polls. A former trade union leader, Hawke believed in government by consensus and managed with considerable success to establish agreement between business and the unions in the pursuit of economic growth. He became the only Labor Prime Minister to have been removed by his own party while still in office, when successfully challenged by Paul Keating in December 1991. Beginnings Robert James Lee Hawke was born in Bordertown, South Australia, on 9 December 1929. He is the second of two sons of Clement Hawke, a Congregational minister, and Ellie Lee, a school teacher, both of Cornish ancestry. After the death of the older son, the family moved to Leederville, Western Australia, where Hawke grew up. Clement's brother, Albert (Bert) RG Hawke, was Labor Premier of Western Australia for six years from 1953 to 1959. Robert (Bob) Hawke attended Perth Modern School before going on to the University of Western Australia.

He graduated with arts and law degrees in 1952. He won a Rhodes Scholarship and studied economics at Oxford University from which he graduated B.Litt, having written his thesis on wage fixation. He married Hazel Masterson in 1956, and they had three children. Hawke returned to Australia in 1956 to undertake doctoral studies at the Australian National University. He did not complete his degree, but accepted instead a position as research officer and advocate with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) in 1958. Bob Hawke unsuccessfully stood as the Australian Labor Party (ALP) candidate against Hubert Opperman, Liberal Minister for Immigration, in the seat of Corio, Victoria, at the 1963 general election. After rising through the ranks of the ACTU, Hawke served as its president from 1970 to 1980. He took on a high public profile and acquired a reputation as an excellent conciliator, effectively resolving many national industrial disputes.

He was a member of many national bodies during the 1970s, including the Immigration Planning Council and the Immigration Advisory Council from 1970 to 1980, the Reserve Bank Board from 1973 to 1980, the Australian Council for Union Training from 1975 to 1980, the Australian Population and Immigration Council from 1976 to 1980, the Australian Refugee Advisory Council from 1979 to 1980, and the International Labour Organisation Governing Body from 1972 to 1980. He was national president of the ALP from 1973 to 1978. In 1979 he delivered the ABC Boyer lecture on the topic 'Resolution of Conflict'. Entry to federal politics Bob Hawke was elected to federal parliament at the general election on 18 October 1980 as the ALP candidate for the seat of Wills, Victoria, which he held through the next four general elections: 1983, 1984, 1987 and 1990.

On election he was immediately appointed to the shadow ministry of opposition leader WG Hayden, as spokesman on industrial relations, employment and youth affairs. On 16 July 1982 Hawke challenged Hayden for leadership of the parliamentary ALP. Hayden resigned the leadership, contested the position against Hawke at a caucus ballot on 16 July and retained the position in a close vote 42:37. Hawke's supporters continued lobbying for him to replace Hayden, who was persuaded to resign the leadership. He did so on 3 February 1983, 20 minutes after the Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, called a general election. Prime Minister Bob Hawke Hawke brought the ALP back into government at the general election on 5 March 1983, by gaining a 15-seat majority over the Liberal-National coalition in the House of Representatives. The ALP also held 30 Senate seats, compared to the 28 of the coalition, five of the Democrats and one Independent.

Concerned with the divisiveness of recent events, Hawke's first major step as Prime Minister was to conduct an 'Economic Summit' meeting in Canberra from 11 to 14 April 1983. Present were political parties and union and employer organisations. The idea was to attempt a national consensus on economic policy. The 'Wages Accord' with unions, a by-product of the Economic Summit, became a major part of government economic policy. The Hawke government also floated the Australian dollar on international money markets and allowed the operation of foreign-owned banks as first steps towards deregulating the national economy. In 1983 the Hawke government used its powers under World Heritage legislation to prevent the Tasmanian government from building the Gordon-below-Franklin dam in Tasmania. The ALP government led by Hawke was returned to office at an election on 1 December 1984, with a reduced majority. Under Hawke's leadership, changes to Australia's education and training system began in 1984 and continued over the following years.

Changes included: amalgamations of smaller tertiary training institutions; creation of new universities from former Colleges of Advanced Education; the setting of national curriculum standards for schools; upgrading of the Technical and Further Education (TAFE) sector; and the establishment of national training and qualification standards. Despite loss of popularity as measured by opinion polls, Hawke took the ALP to a record third term in office at the general election on 8 July 1987. Disunity in the Liberal-National Party opposition was a key factor in the government's success at this election. The 'Joh for Canberra' campaign to have Queensland Premier Johannes Bjelke-Petersen brought into federal parliament seriously weakened the campaign of coalition leader John Howard. Hawke and Treasurer Paul John Keating were criticised for having 'hijacked' the ALP, moving it away from its traditional working class base and from its previous socialist philosophy. At the same time, the ALP's continued electoral success was due largely to Hawke's - and later Keating's - achievement in moving the party to the 'middle ground', where it attracted voters who previously supported the Liberal-National Party coalition.

As Prime Minister, Hawke travelled widely in the Pacific, Asia, Europe and North America, and was host to many international delegations visiting Australia. He also arranged the celebration of the Bicentenary of the First Fleet and European settlement in Australia with a year-long series of events conducted in all states and territories in 1988. Although Hawke took the ALP to a record fourth term in office at the general election in March 1990, uncertainty grew within the parliamentary party over his ability to win another election during a period of recession. In 1990-1991 the Australian economy slid into recession and unemployment reached 11 per cent in 1992 - the highest level since the Great Depression of the early 1930s. Anxiety led to Hawke's removal as leader on 20 December 1991, when Keating made a second and successful challenge to his leadership. Hawke immediately resigned the prime ministership, which Keating then took over. Life beyond politics Hawke resigned from parliament soon after quitting as Prime Minister. He entered TV journalism, interviewing international political figures for the Channel 9 network.

He subsequently pursued diverse business interests, and in 1994 published his political memoirs, The Hawke Memoirs. Bob and Hazel Hawke's marriage ended after he had quit Parliament. In 1995 he married the author Blanche D'Alpuget. Legislation An increasingly heavy legislative program was continued by the Hawke governments. Several Acts of parliament of importance in Australian political life over many decades were nearing the end of their useful life and needed to be completely redrafted to reflect changing legislative requirements. These new acts included: The Industrial Relations Act 1988, replacing the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 and the Social Security Act 1991, which replaced the Social Security Act 1947. Other legislation included: The World Heritage Properties Conservation Act 1983 which brought state territory listed as heritage areas within the control of the Commonwealth through the use of the external affairs power in the Constitution. The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 which outlawed sex discrimination in the workforce. The Australia Act 1985 which finally ended residual control theoretically exercised by the British Government in regard to certain state functions.

The Privacy Act 1988 which provided for safeguards over the use of information held about people in data banks and other information storage systems. The Hawke government also took an important step in legislating for Australia's Indigenous peoples through the passage of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act 1989, which established the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) as the peak national policy and administrative agency for the Indigenous peoples. This Act combined in ATSIC the functions of the former Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Aboriginal Development Commission. The Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989 was an example of legislation giving wide ranging entrepreneurial powers to government business enterprises, subject to some legislative safeguards. Breadcrumb Links: Hawke : the prime minister (Book, 2010) [WorldCat.org] Carlton, Vic. : Melbourne University Press, ©2010. Edition/Format: Print book : Biography : English View all editions and formats Database: WorldCat Summary: Robert James Lee Hawke first came to prominence as a union wages advocate, and as President of the ACTU from 1970 to 1980 he was a master negotiator and peacemaker in industrial life.

He agitated for social and economic reforms, becoming a folk hero and the most popular Australian of his time. He led the Labor Party to victory in the general election of March 1983 and, in winning three successive elections, became Australia's longest-serving Labor Prime Minister. As Prime Minister, Hawke would preside over some of the most influential economic reforms modern Australia had ever seen: floating the Australian dollar and deregulating the Australian financial system. This biography takes us through the successive governments until Hawke's resignation from Parliament in February 1992. Read more... Rating: Prime Minister - Robert James Hawke Their History In Brief. PLEASE NOTE: Both these links will open in a popup window Robert James Lee (Bob) Hawke was born on 9 December 1929 in Bordertown, South Australia. He was the younger of the two sons of Congregational minister Clem Hawke and Ellie (Lee) Hawke, a former teacher. In 1939, after Bob Hawke's 18-year-old brother Neil died, the family moved to Perth, Western Australia and settled in the suburb of West Leederville. Hawke attended Perth Modern School, then the University of Western Australia.

Hawke was president of the University's Student Representative Council and graduated with a Law degree and an Arts degree in 1953. That year Albert Hawke, Bob Hawke's uncle, became Western Australia's Labor Premier. Bob Hawke went to Oxford University in 1953, as Western Australia's Rhodes scholar. Abandoning his planned degree, he submitted a thesis on the history of wage-fixing in Australia and he graduated with a Bachelor of Letters in 1955 and returned to Australia in 1956. On 3 March 1956, he and Hazel Masterson married in Perth. They had first met eight years earlier. Hawke then enrolled in a doctoral program at the Australian National University and the couple moved to Canberra. Two years later, with the degree unfinished, Hawke took a job with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). Bob Hawke was the ACTU's first paid researcher and advocate before the Arbitration Commission. He soon proved his value. He played a key role in the 1959 basic wage decision and then succeeded in a metal workers' case before the commission.

In 1962 Hawke was a delegate to a conference for nominees from Commonwealth countries, sponsored by the Duke of Edinburgh and held in Canada. In 1963 Hawke's first attempt to enter federal parliament failed after he contested the seat of Corio (Victoria) against Liberal minister, Hubert Opperman. In July 1964 the Hawke's moved to a larger house in Royal Avenue, still in the bayside suburb of Sandringham, with their three young children. Their fourth child, a son, had survived only a few days after his birth a year before. In 1965 the family spent three months in Port Moresby, where Hawke was arguing a wage case for Papua New Guinea's public servants. When Albert Monk retired as president of the ACTU in 1969, Hawke was elected his successor. During his ten years with the ACTU, Hawke transformed wage fixing in Australia and was acknowledged as the system's best advocate. He had developed good relations not only with unionists but also with his opponents, the employers and government representatives. His powers of persuasion were widely recognised, as was his conviviality - measured by copious beers over negotiations in hotel bars.

He made strong friendships with Labor Party and trades union colleagues. In 1971 Hawke travelled to Israel as the first recipient of an award in memory of Senator Sam Cohen. He then travelled to Geneva for a meeting of the International Labour Organisation governing body, of which he had become a member the previous year. From there he arranged to go to Moscow for meetings about the plight of the 'refuseniks', Jewish people unable to get permission to leave the Soviet Union. On his return to Melbourne, Hawke delivered the inaugural Cohen lecture. That same year the ACTU was also heavily involved in anti-apartheid demonstrations against the tour of the South African Springboks rugby union team. Also in 1971 Hawke was elected to the federal executive of the Australian Labor Party and was made Father of the Year. In 1972, the Hawke's were both involved in Labor's campaign for the federal election. They were prominent at the triumphal celebrations when Gough Whitlam led the party to victory - the first Labor government since Ben Chifley was defeated at the 1949 election. Bob Hawke worked increasingly to resolve rather than instigate industrial disputes.

He was active in international labour issues, and in Australia became the most prominent figure in the union movement, with a national reputation as an effective negotiator. In 1973 Hawke was elected federal president of the Australian Labor Party for a five-year term. Now president of both the ACTU and the Labor Party, he represented the labour movement and the Labor Party on governing and advisory bodies, such as the Reserve Bank Board, the Australian Population and Immigration Council, and the Monash University Council. Section Menu (Alt+m) In July 1973 the Hawke's travelled to Singapore, Tehran and Israel for meetings of unionists, and to Geneva for an International Labour Organisation meeting. In 1974 Hawke went to a labour conference in Belgrade, where Hazel Hawke and their children joined him to travel to Greece for a holiday. Holidays were rare, and this one was interrupted by phone calls and negotiations as usual on both party and ACTU business. At the Bass by-election in 1975, the loss of Lance Barnard's seat weakened the Whitlam government.

When Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed the Whitlam government on 11 November 1975, Hawke immediately left his Melbourne office for Canberra, and was prominent in both the protest demonstrations and the Labor campaign for the December election. Reflecting his preference for resolving rather than promoting industrial disputes, he held firm against calls for industrial action to protest Whitlam's dismissal. During these years Hawke was fighting a battle against alcoholism. He nonetheless managed a punishing workload. The worst effects of this problem were concentrated within his family life. When they emerged in his work life, they were concealed by close friends and colleagues. Recognition of his work and achievements grew, both in Australia and overseas. In 1976 Hawke returned to Israel, as a guest of the Israeli government, for the dedication of a forest to him. He was invited to China in 1978 as a leader of the trade union movement and, in January 1979, he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. In May that year he travelled to Moscow and Geneva, where he led unsuccessful negotiations on behalf of Soviet Jewish families attempting to emigrate.

Invited to deliver Australia's ABC radio Boyer Lectures during 1979, Hawke chose as his topic 'The resolution of conflict'. After a physical collapse in 1979, Hawke began a sustained attempt to conquer his alcohol addiction. In 1980 his popularity in Australia became evident in an opinion poll on preferred Prime Ministers. Though not even in parliament, he far outstripped both Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and Leader of the Opposition Bill Hayden. On 23 September 1980, Hawke announced his intention to make a second attempt to enter federal parliament, and on 14 October was pre-selected for the seat of Wills. He resigned from the ACTU to begin campaigning for the federal election. When Hawke won the seat of Wills in October 1980, leader of the federal parliamentary Labor Party Bill Hayden appointed him Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Employment and Youth Affairs. Hawke made his first speech in the House of Representatives on 26 November 1980. At the age of 50, he might have been a new parliamentarian, but he was a seasoned, confident and persuasive politician.

In May 1982, the Hawke's travelled to Singapore, London and then Helsinki where Hawke attended an international socialist conference. At the Labor Party's federal conference in Canberra's Lakeside Hotel in July 1982, Hawke initiated a challenge to Bill Hayden's leadership. Hawke lost the Caucus ballot that followed, but the vote was close. The recognition within the party that Hawke's leadership ability outstripped all others, including Hayden, made a successful challenge just a matter of time. Hawke did not have support from the left wing party faction, but Hayden's stance against the left's wish to repudiate uranium mining policy made Hawke a lesser evil. Senior Labor figures assembled in Brisbane on 1 February 1983 for the funeral of former Prime Minister Frank Forde, with former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam among the pallbearers. After the solemnities, Hayden held a long and emotional meeting with John Button, one of his closest colleagues, and finally agreed to step down. Two days later the Labor Party shadow Cabinet met in Brisbane and Hayden resigned. In Canberra a few hours later Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser met with the Governor-General to request a double dissolution of the parliament.

Fraser had hoped to forestall the change of leadership before the election. Hawke was elected Labor Party leader on 8 February 1983, and the federal election was called for 5 March 1983. Hawke was Leader of the Opposition for less than a month, and his most urgent task was the brief election campaign. The Labor Party campaign launch was held at the Opera House, Sydney on 16 February, under the slogan 'Bringing Australia together'. In the press statement announcing his resignation, Bill Hayden had said that in the current electoral climate, 'a drover's dog could lead the Labor Party to victory'. After a four-week campaign, Bob Hawke led the Labor Party to their greatest election win in 40 years. His parliamentary apprenticeship had lasted just two years. Hawke brought the ALP back into government at the general election on 5 March 1983, by gaining a 15-seat majority over the Liberal-National coalition in the House of Representatives. He also held 30 Senate seats, compared to the 28 of the coalition, 5 of the Democrats and 1 Independent.

Concerned with the divisiveness of recent events, Hawke's first major step as Prime Minister was to conduct an 'Economic Summit' meeting in Canberra from 11 to 14 April 1983. The summit involved all political parties, unions and employer organisations and aimed to form a national consensus on economic policy. Hawke's links with business, built up during 22 years at the ACTU, were an effective foundation for such an approach, if an unusual one for a Labor Prime Minister. Section Menu (Alt+m) In 1990-91 the Australian economy slid into recession and unemployment reached 11% in 1992 - the highest level since the Great Depression of the early 1930s. Although Hawke had taken the ALP to a record fourth term in office at the general election in March 1990, uncertainty within the parliamentary party over his ability to win another election during a period of recession led to his removal as leader on 20 December 1991, when Keating made a second and successful challenge to Hawke's leadership. Hawke immediately resigned the Prime Ministership, which Keating then took over.

Just as Hawke had done with Bill Hayden ten years before, Keating provoked an open leadership contest in 1991. Keating claimed that Hawke had reneged on an agreement reached at Kirribilli House in 1988 about the transfer of the leadership. Hawke won a leadership ballot in mid-1991 and Keating retired to the back bench, giving up the Treasury portfolio. On 12 December, a deputation of Hawke's ministers - Kim E Beazley, Michael Duffy, Nick Bolkus, Gareth Evans, Gerry Hand and Robert Ray - advised him to resign. He resisted, and a week later was persuaded to call another leadership vote. He was narrowly defeated by Keating, who became party leader and was sworn in as Prime Minister on 20 December 1991. Hawke resigned from parliament soon after quitting as Prime Minister. He entered TV journalism, interviewing international political figures for the Channel 9 network. He subsequently pursued diverse business interests, and in 1994 published his political memoirs, The Hawke Memoirs.

Robert Hawke - Australia's PMs - Australia's Prime Ministers AUSTRALIA'S PRIME MINISTERS Home > Australia's PMs > Robert Hawke Robert Hawke With eight years in office, Bob Hawke was Australia’s longest-serving Labor Prime Minister. He became Prime Minister after only two years in parliament, and only one month as Leader of the Opposition. Prime Minister Bob Hawke talks to Archbishop James Carroll outside Parliament House during the Economic Summit in April 1983. NAA: A6180, 15/4/83/5 Building on his success as trade union president, Hawke established consensus with unions and business to stabilise wage growth, improve the ability of business to compete in global markets and to deregulate the Australian economy and promote growth.

Robert Hawke - Prime Minister of Australia Robert Hawke Full Name: Robert James Lee Hawke (Bob Hawke) AKA: Bob Hawke Birth Place: Bordertown, South Australia Terms:03/11/1983 to 12/20/1991 Remarks Following Discussions With Prime Minister Robert Hawke of Australia Remarks Following Discussions With Prime Minister Robert Hawke of Australia February 7, 1985 The President. Prime Minister Bob Hawke, it was a pleasure to meet with you today, the first head of state to visit us since the inauguration. And this, I understand, is also your first trip abroad since your own reelection. We're each getting our new terms started by sitting down and talking with a good friend. I cannot overstate the value America places on our friendship with Australia. We share a commitment to democratic ideals. In fact, at the heart of our election process is the secret ballot, which, by no coincidence, was referred to as the Australian ballot when it was first introduced into our country. Australia is a reliable ally, an important trading partner, a trusted friend, and a fellow democracy. We've stood together through trials and tribulations.

We've rejoiced together in triumph. And now, as Australia approaches its bicentennial in 1988, the United States Government and private sector will play an active part in that historic event. As a key ally and a vital voice in world affairs, Australia makes a significant contribution to the way that we approach international challenges. My conversations with Prime Minister Hawke today reflected the serious consideration with which we take Australia's views in national interest. Much of our consultation was focused on arms control. Prime Minister Hawke made clear the importance of this issue to the Australian people, and it is no less so for us. I reiterated my sincere desire to achieve deep reductions in nuclear arms, as a giant first step toward eliminating them altogether. As allies, we've always consulted closely on foreign policy issues. And now that Australia has been named a member of the U.N. Security Council, new weight will be added to our consultations. On regional issues, we reaffirmed our strong belief in cooperation among Pacific States to maintain secure, prosperous, and democratic societies. Prime Minister Hawke and I agreed that strength and unity of purpose will give the West the leverage it needs to achieve effective and verifiable arms reductions with the Soviet Union.

We consider that close and comprehensive interaction among ANZUS members on political, economic, and defense matters is central to the continued effectiveness of the ANZUS alliance. In particular, continued military cooperation is essential to maintenance of the alliance's integrity and strength. We deeply regret the decision by the New Zealand Government to deny port access to our ships. We consider New Zealand a friend. It's our deepest hope that New Zealand will restore the traditional cooperation that has existed between our two countries. Allies must work together as partners to meet their shared responsibilities. The security which we derive from these arrangements is at the foundation of the growing prosperity we share. Prime Minister Hawke and I were very pleased to discuss the economic good news coming from both our countries and many others around the world. The global economy is picking up steam, and we're happy to have played a part in that recovery. This is our second meeting, Bob. It's still a long way from Australia to the United States, but modern technology and good old-fashioned friendship are bringing us closer than ever before. I'm grateful for your visit, and I'm looking forward to working together with you in the coming years to make the world a safer and a better place. And Godspeed now on your way home.

The Prime Minister. Thank you very much. Mr. President, I greatly appreciate the warmth and the friendliness of your statement and of the consultations we have just concluded with you and with the members of your administration. But this is my first overseas visit since our elections, and that we have the honor to be the first official visitors here since your second inauguration point up the prime importance of our personal relationship and those between our governments and between our countries. The timing of our talks has not just been of symbolic significance but has added greatly to their substantive value. We have again found an extensive coincidence of preoccupations and of priorities in managing our respective foreign and domestic affairs. You have just launched a budgetary process which will have great significance for the international community. Both our governments face the task of maintaining the strong growth that both the United States and Australia have recently enjoyed. And we shall both be tackling this on a number of fronts during 1985. We're looking also to increasing trade flows to sustain economic recovery fully and widely. We seek to resist protectionism and to preserve and to strengthen the multilateral trading system. And, Mr. President, we look to and we know we will receive from you strong leadership in that direction.

One aspect -- an important one -- of the ANZUS relationship has become a matter of close concern to us both and will require continuing consultation. Let me say, first, that the relationship between Australia and the United States under the ANZUS treaty and the rights and obligations assumed by us under the treaty are undiminished by recent events. Your statement accurately reflects the position. The ANZUS treaty remains; the fundamental importance of cooperation within it has been reaffirmed here today. Similarly, we have reaffirmed the need for solidarity and common purpose in pursuit of arms reductions. I congratulate you again on reaching agreement with the Soviet Union to enter into the forthcoming round of negotiations and on the approach you have taken to that agreement. You will have our continuing support in what is bound to be a difficult and protracted process. We will remain closely in touch as that process moves forward. And we will continue to offer counsel, while maintaining our own direct participation with you in multilateral disarmament work. We will continue both nationally and in the established pattern of partnership with you to make our contribution to Western security in every way open and acceptable to us.

We will do so against the basic criteria that a situation of stable deterrence, despite its defects, is necessary in order to produce progress on disarmament. We have a fundamental interest in that starting point of stable deterrence, in the final goal of disarmament, and in an intermediate and, hopefully, early stage of substantial arms reductions. I said, Mr. President, at the outset that the timing of our talks was important. I believe we have been successful in bringing steady consideration to the issues before us. In the process, we have once more tested and proved our ability to work closely together. One of the continuing strengths of a mature relationship is that neither seeks from the other a complete conformity of views and actions. But we have shown, once again, the capacity to respond to each other's needs in the pursuit of major objectives on which we have the widest measure of agreement. Mr. President, I thank you for your hospitality and for your warm references to our bicentennial celebrations, in which we look forward to active United States participation. I thank you, also, Mr. President, for the kind reception which you and Mrs. Reagan have given to me and to my wife.

I look forward to continued meetings with you and members of your administration, whether up here or down under. Note: The President spoke at 1:22 p.m. at the South Portico of the White House following a meeting in the Oval Office and a luncheon in the Residence. Bob Hawke - Wikidata Bob Hawke 23rd Prime Minister of Australia Robert James Lee Hawke Cite this page This page was last modified on 10 January 2017, at 17:41. All structured data from the main and property namespace is available under the Creative Commons CC0 License ; text in the other namespaces is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Question: Robert Hawke was the prime minister of which country?
Answer: Australia