Hawke first Labour P.M. to win three in a row

Press, 13 July 1987, Page 3

Hawke first Labour P.M. to win three in a row

NZPA-Reuter Sydney Bob Hawke, for 10 years the boss of Australia’s trade union movement, is the first Labour Party Prime Minister to win three successive terms in office. Mr Hawke, aged 57, has completed a successful take-over of the Centrist political ground traditionally held by the Liberal Party with victory in Saturday’s election. Aided by charisma, rugged good looks and a reputation for decisiveness, Mr Hawke rubbed off the rough edges of an abrasive personality in his four years in power, developing into a benign elder statesman.

Under the guidance of the Treasurer, Mr Paul Keating, Mr Hawke’s Government established a record for pragmatic and moderate economic management which saw the floating of the Australian dollar and a proposed entry of foreign banks into Australia. President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions from 1970, Mr Hawke won a seat in Parliament at his second attempt in 1980.

Robert James Lee Hawke was born on December 9, 1929, in the South Australian village of Bordertown, where his father was a Congregational Church minister. When he was nine, the family moved to Perth. An outstanding student, he won a scholarship to the University of Western Australia, where he gained a law degree with honours in 1950 and after an extra year there, a bachelor of arts degree specialising in economics.

In 1952, Mr Hawke won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, where he spent three years studying Australia’s labour arbitration system.

While at Oxford he won a blue at cricket and a place in the “Guinness Book of Records” for drinking 2*/ 2 pints (nearly 1.5 litres) of beer in 12 seconds.

Returning from Oxford, he married Hazel Masterson, an organist at his father’s church, in 1956. They have a son and two daughters.

When the Liberal Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, called an election in March, 1983, Mr Hawke took over the Labour Party leadership from Bill Hayden and led the party to victory, promising national reconciliation and government for all.

In his first term of office he presided over the fastest economic growth in Australia for a decade, cutting inflation, raising business profits and employment.

Riding on an economic boom, Mr Hawke called an election for December, 1984, after only 20 months in office, convinced that he had fulfilled his promises. ■

He was returned, not by the expected landslide but with a reduced majority. Mr Hawke blamed the country’s complex voting system which he said led to many Labour supporters’ votes being spoiled, but commentators attributed it to arrogance during a campaign built around himself. Whatever the reason,

he faced a tougher ride in his second spell in power amid renewed challenges from a Labour Left-wing unhappy with his middle-of-the-road policies. By mid-1986, a range of economic problems contributed to a drbp in his personal popularity from an average of 70 per cent in 1984 to below 50 per cent, still a level good enough to cause most Western leaders to open the champagne. In May this year, with a popularity rating of 57 per cent compared with 31 per cent for the opposition Liberal Party leader, John Howard, Mr Hawke called an election eight months before his threeyear term was due to expire.

His main goal of pulling Australia back to economic health continued to be allied to a tough approach to foreign affairs, demonstrated by his closing this year of the Libyan People’s Bureau — or diplomatic mission — in Canberra, a move which reinforced his reputation abroad.