Bob Hawke—all round Aussie joker

Press, 11 February 1983, Page 14

Bob Hawke—all round Aussie joker

From TOM BRIDGMAN, NZPA Staff Correspondent, Sydney

Robert James Lee Hawke — Bob Hawke — has taken over as leader of the Australian Labor Party.

With the mantle of A.L.P. leadership. Mr Hawke will have access to a V.I.P. aircraft traditionally made available for the Leader of the Opposition during an election campaign — the first trappings of O'

Despite the occasional call for a debate on the issues, the next weeks are already shaping up as Australia’s first “presidential election.”

Hawke or Fraser — which would make the better Prime Minister?

That has been really the only question at issue so far, despite the mounting rhetoric and claim counter-claim associated '•th eh ■'nd '-hich

wil intensify in tne weeks leading up to March 5 when Australia goes to the polls. Mr Hawke was born at Bordertown, in South Australia, on December 9. 1929.

He was the son of a congregational Minister and moved to Western Australia with his family in his early youth. Scholastically bright, he went to the University of Western Australia where he earned a Bachelors degree in Arts. Economics, and Law and in 1952 became the state’s Rhodes Scholar, later graduating with a Bachelor of Literature degree from Oxford University in England. While there he gained a place in the "Guinness Book of Records" for downing two and a half pints of beer in 12 seconds, despite coming from a family of teetotallers. He returned to Australia in 1955, taking up a Research Scholarship at the Australian National University in Canberra. In 1956 he married his wife, Hazel, who later bore him two daughters and a son — Susan, Rosslyn, and Stephen. In 1958 Mr Hawke joined the Australian Council of Trade Unions (A.C.T.U.) as research officer and began the path that led him to leadership of the A.L.P. and may take him on March 5 to Prime Minister.

Mr Hawke came quickly to public notice in 1959 when he was called on to plead the union’s basic wage case, and, although only 29 years old, he won with his forceful and persuasive argument what was then a large pay rise.

[Nine years were spent as industrial advocate for the A.C.T.U. until, in 1970, he was made president of the council, winning with the support of the Left-wing unions. (Today the Left-wing has a big distrust of Mr Hawke.) In 1971, Mr Hawke was made an A.L.P. Federal executive member and in 1973 a member of the Reserve Bank's Board. Later that year he achieved greater fame when he became the Australian Labor Party Federal president, beginning the speculation as to when he would make his move to Canberra and the Federal Parliament. It was not until 1980, after 10 years at the top of the A.C.T.U., that Mr Hawke made the move, gaining the safe seat of. Wills in Melbourne, but in that time he gained his reputation as the most popular figure in Australia.

His steely stare, biting words, boozing, and verbal duelling all helped the rough and tumble image.

However it was also then that he gained his reputation as a conciliator and as a consensus politician. It has been pointed out that in eight of his 10 years as A.C.T.U. president, only three issues went to the vote in the executive. The rest were by consensus.

This facet of his career and make-up is what the A.L.P. is drawing upon for its election strategy. “Bob Hawke — bringing Australia together,” is the main campaign slogan. In a recent kev speech on

ihaustnai relations Mr Hawse emphasised reconciliation and mutual decision making time and time again. “We will provide government that will attempt to draw people and the parties to the industrial relationship constructively together, we will undertake the task of national reconciliation rather than the intensification of divisiveness," he said.

In his path to the Federal Parliament, Mr Hawke, who had been renowned for his drinking, gave it up. The drinking stopped in May, 1980, on the eve of the trip to Geneva. “I said to myself. 'Well, bugger it. You'd be better off not drinking. Why don't you give it up?' So I went and washed my hands and that was it ..." he savs.

“I never thought of myself as an alcoholic and I don't think I was in the sense that I could not do without it. I didn’t get up in the morning and have a drink. There were days when I did go without it. It didn't have hold of me in that sense, but it was really too much of a crutch to me." Mr Hawke is a man who holds passionately strong views on a number of issues, one of which is his staunch backing of Israel in Middle East politics.

His reactions at times on issues like that have led to a questioning of his ability to handle pressure, an aspect that has been taken up by Mr Fraser.

A profile in the “Age" newspaper in Melbourne argued that the occasional nublic

lapses oy Mr Hawke are part of his appeal. "His occasional tear-shed-ding, on television or in Parliament. and on issues such as Israel, have led some to question his strength and levelheadedness under pressure, but Bob Hawke is a veteran of pressure." wrote Michael Gordon.

“Mr Hawke's vulnerability is as much a plus as a minus. He remains a charismatic hero whose glories and defeats are suffered in full public view.

"He is also the best communicator in the country, capable of reducing complex arguments to simple sentences, sometimes punctuated with the odd expletive. The larrikin, sportsman, competitor, and joker in Bob Hawke are never far away.” he wrote.

The testing for Mr Hawke's weak points began straight-off last week on national television when Mr Hawke was thrown some straight and provocative questions about his role in the bid to topple Mr Hayden. “Can I ask you whether you feel a little embarrassed tonight at the blood that's on vour hands?” asked the A.B.C. s Richard Carlton. It prompted a fiery reply and heated exchange from Mr Hawke, who branded the question “ridiculous." and accused Mr Carlton of “stupidity” and “damned impertinence."

Confrontation television it certainly was. but next day indications from the A.L.P. made it clear Mr Hawke would be holding himself in check at later appearances.