Condolence

Hawke, Hon. R.J.L.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:27): With the leave of the council, I move:

That the Legislative Council expresses its deep regret at the recent death of the Hon. Robert James Lee Hawke AC GCL, former Prime Minister of Australia, and places on record its appreciation of his distinguished public service, and as a mark of respect to his memory the sitting of the council be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

Robert James Lee (or Bob as he was known) Hawke was born in Bordertown, South Australia, on 9 December 1929, the son of a minister of religion and a former teacher. I think that other very famous product of Bordertown, my colleague the Hon. Mr Ridgway, may well make an informed contribution from, in part, a Bordertown perspective.

The Hawke family moved to Perth, Western Australia, where Mr Hawke completed his schooling. He studied at the University of Western Australia and then went on to distinguish himself at Oxford University as Western Australia's Rhodes scholar for 1953, and distinguished himself in many other good old Aussie ways: as it was described, he established a world beer drinking record whilst at Oxford, drinking a yard in 11 seconds flat.

On returning to Australia he started doctoral studies at the Australian National University, Canberra, but did not complete them. He joined the Australian Council of Trade Unions (the ACTU) as a research officer in 1958 and became an advocate, before his elevation to ACTU president from 1969 to 1980. I must admit that I was not aware that he unsuccessfully contested the Victorian seat of Corio for the ALP at the 1963 federal election. He then continued to build a presence in the Australian Labor Party and was a member of its national executive from 1971 and served as national president of the ALP from 1973 to 1980.

As an ACTU leader, Mr Hawke had become a household name, and his transfer from the industrial relations field to national politics was predicted and expected by many. He entered federal parliament by winning the Melbourne seat of Wills at the 1980 general election and was immediately promoted to the opposition front bench as spokesman for industrial relations, employment and youth affairs.

On the same day, in February 1983, the Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser sought and was granted a double dissolution, and the ALP announced that parliamentary leader Bill Hayden would step aside. Mr Hawke was confirmed as leader five days later on 8 February. For those of us in the chamber old enough to remember, it was a period of monumental political change: the turbulence of being able to, not in the middle of an election campaign but at the commencement of a federal election campaign, successfully depose one leader and replace that leader with another. I do not think that had been done before and I do not think has been done since in terms of its brutal efficiency in making a leadership change.

The ALP won a clear majority at the March election, in significant part based on the personal popularity of Mr Hawke, and formed a government for the first time since 1975. Under Mr Hawke's leadership the party also won elections in 1984, 1987 and 1990. Ultimately, Mr Hawke lost the ALP leadership and the prime ministership in a party room challenge or coup by former deputy prime minister and treasurer, Mr Paul Keating, on 19 December 1991. He resigned as prime minister the next day and from parliament on 20 February 1992.

Encapsulated in that was a remarkable industrial and then political career, and I want to speak a little about his time in politics and some of his achievements. In reflecting on Mr Hawke and our memories of former Prime Minister Hawke, many of us remember various things. I guess his larrikin appeal to the Australian electorate, in terms of his punting, smoking, drinking and other habits, endeared him to not just workers but many Australians in terms of his leadership, first of the ACTU and then his leadership of the nation.

In the nearly 30 years since his leaving politics and his untimely death in recent days, his reputation, together with that of some other former prime ministers, grew in stature, and the respect that a broader group in the community have felt for them in their retirement years has grown compared with perhaps the more narrow-cast support they might have had whilst they were political leaders.

Mr Hawke is a bit like our current Prime Minister, Mr Morrison, in one respect anyway, in that they are known to the majority of Australians by their nicknames of great Aussie familiarity: Hawkie in his case and ScoMo in the case of Mr Morrison, the current Prime Minister. When one thinks of all the other recent prime ministers, Mr Howard, as widely loved and respected as he was, was never known as Howie or JoHo, and Malcolm Fraser, Paul Keating, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and the like were never ultimately accepted by the majority of the Australian populace by endearing nicknames. Mr Hawke was known in particular as Hawkie to the vast majority of Australians.

Former Prime Minister Hawke certainly was courageous in relation to his leadership on a range of particular issues. His abhorrence of racism led his political views, both before becoming a member of parliament as the ACTU leader and during his time in politics, and led him to lead the national debate in a number of those important areas during those particular years.

In the 1970s, his commitment to the selection of sporting teams on a non-racial basis led to a ban on the South African cricket team touring Australia. His abhorrence of apartheid would lead to further effective action while he was prime minister in support of human rights in South Africa. There are a number of other examples throughout his political career, such as his attitude to dissenters in China, for example, and elsewhere, where he led national and public debate in a way that was widely regarded by people from across the political spectrum.

On more particular political, economic and development issues, he led a debate that was not always supported by the majority of his own party. In the late 1970s, for example, the Australian Labor Party and the union movement were deeply divided about uranium mining. Bob Hawke's advocacy both as a union leader and as a Labor leader ultimately was different from many within his own party. He told the 1979 ACTU national conference that banning uranium mining would be 'a monument to futility'.

For those of us who are old enough to have followed the debates, that period of 1979-82 was a period of great debate in the South Australian parliament in relation to the Roxby Downs mining development. Many within the South Australian Labor Party were trenchantly opposed to uranium mining and the Roxby Downs mining development. As I have highlighted before, it was through the courage of a Labor member in this particular chamber, the Hon. Norm 'Stormy Normy' Foster, who crossed the floor and was ultimately kicked out of the Australian Labor Party for it, that ultimately allowed the Roxby Downs development to proceed in South Australia.

The thousands of workers and their families in South Australia who benefited from jobs related directly and indirectly to uranium mining and the Roxby Downs development is testament to the courage of a few within the labour movement and within the Labor Party, like former Prime Minister Hawke, then ACTU leader, in relation to it. We as a state are indebted to the courage of those few who were prepared to have the courage to stand up and lead debate.

As prime minister, he again took positions that were not comfortable to many within the Australian Labor Party. He led the charge on privatisation, for example. During his leadership of the Australian Labor Party at the national level, the Commonwealth Bank was privatised, Qantas and TAA were prepared for privatisation, Telstra was opened up for competition and personal and company taxes right across the board were reduced. We have seen in the recent public debate significant debate about the level of income tax and company tax reductions and whether or not they should apply across the board or perhaps to only certain groups in the community.

The entry of foreign banks was allowed whilst he was leader, the financial industry was deregulated, the dollar was floated and tariffs were cut. Many of those areas were uncomfortable issues for some within the Australian Labor Party and within the broader union movement. Again, he showed leadership and, to be fair, with the support of the Hon. John Howard, then leader of the opposition, those particular changes were able to be implemented, to the ultimate benefit of the people of Australia in terms of the major economic reforms that Bob Hawke led, together with the support of Paul Keating in his own party, during that particular period.

He also urged the opening up of Australia's trade and economic relations with the rest of the world, in particular with China; in fact, he anticipated, before most, the opportunities in relation to trade with China. He encouraged all aspects of our relationship with China but, as I said earlier, not at the cost of his recognition of the need for human rights, his priority in the immediate aftermath of the student uprising in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Many Australians will know the leadership role former Prime Minister Hawke showed during that period, a period of great controversy not only in China but around the world and in Australia, in particular, as well.

On behalf of the members of the Liberal Party in the Legislative Council, I want to pay tribute to the contribution former Prime Minister Hawke made to public life, to Australia. I have highlighted aspects of what he did that were to the great benefit of South Australia but, on behalf of the Liberals in this chamber, I pay tribute to what he did and what he sought to do on behalf of the people of Australia.

Political leaders are not loved by everyone; they are certainly not all saints and not everyone loves everything that an individual political leader does, but the warm regard that was felt by the overwhelming majority of Australians on his passing is testament to the fact that, by and large, the majority of Australians believe he did much good for Australia, and for that we should be thankful and grateful. We pass on to his wife Blanche and his children, his family and his friends, our sympathy and our gratitude for the contribution he made to the people of Australia.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:42): I would like to endorse the comments made by my leader in relation to the former Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon. Bob Hawke.

My colleague the Hon. Rob Lucas mentioned the town of Bordertown, which members know was my hometown—and I guess it still is my home town. My grandparents lived next door to Mr Clem Hawke and his wife, so when Bob was born my mother and aunt were next-door neighbours. If my mother were still alive she would be 96 now, so she was about six years old when Bob Hawke was born, but my aunt was about four or five years older than my mother and was about 11 or 12. They used to babysit him, especially my aunt, and push him around Bordertown in a pusher.

As members would know, Bordertown is not an area that is fond of Labor politicians, and there were often jokes that perhaps it was a shame they did not push him into the creek or something, but as time went by even Bordertown softened. It is an area where the local member still enjoys one of the safest seats in the nation for the Coalition, but Bordertown softened its view to having a prime minister born there, respecting the fact that rising to the office of prime minister, irrespective of your political allegiances, is a significant achievement.

I am reminded that the Apex Club invited the then prime minister to come back to Bordertown for their 500^th meeting; little old Bordertown had probably 30 or 40 members of the Apex Club, but he saw fit to come for their 500^th meeting. My father-in-law was a member of the Apex Club, and I still have a bottle of the port bottled especially to commemorate that particular dinner meeting. He then came back for the 1,000^th dinner meeting, after he was no longer prime minister, and I think he also came back more recently, in the last decade, just to visit Bordertown and pay tribute to the community.

The house he was born in is known as Hawke House—it was not known as Hawke House until he became prime minister—and I think the same family still owns it today. I looked through a book that recounts some of the local community history. When he became prime minister there was a suggestion that a plaque be put on the house. The owner of the house rejected that idea, but then a suggestion came from a Melbourne firm of monumental masons, who perhaps saw an opportunity to make a little bit of money out of it. They offered to donate a bronze bust to the community. There was a lot of discussion at the local council level as to where that should be situated, but in the end it was placed in front of the institute or the town hall. It probably received a bit of adverse attention in the early days and may have been a little damaged, but I know it was repaired.

Within a matter of years, irrespective of his politics, people respected the fact that this man was the prime minister. It is a bit like Sir Robert Menzies and Jeparit. There is a monument to Sir Robert Menzies there, and I am sure there are a lot of people in the Jeparit community who would not have ever supported Sir Robert Menzies but who nonetheless respect the fact that he was born there. I think that today Bordertown celebrates the fact that a prime minister of significance, which the Hon. Mr Bob Hawke was, was born in that town.

I know there was some discussion around his house being a museum. Maybe if Mr Bill Shorten had been successful at the recent federal election they might have turned his house into a museum. I am sure the house will be there for many, many years to come. Maybe, at some point in the future, if there is a federal change of government and the local members of the Labor Party would like to turn it into a museum, that would be an option. On behalf of the Bordertown community, we appreciate and acknowledge the contribution that Bob Hawke made to public life and we celebrate the fact that he was born in country South Australia in a place called Bordertown.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (15:46): I rise to support the motion. Bob Hawke is a Labor legend, but more than that he was a prime minister for all: comfortable in his own skin, a true believer, a true leader and a voice for Australia. Born on 9 December 1929 in Bordertown in the upper South-East, Robert James Lee Hawke was the younger of two sons. Tragically, in 1939, Bob lost his brother, then 18, to meningitis. After moving to Western Australia, Bob Hawke quickly became the president of the University of WA's student representative council and graduated in 1953 with law and arts degrees. That year, Albert Hawke, Bob's uncle, became WA's Labor premier.

In 1953, Bob went to Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. In 1956, he married Hazel Masterson in Perth. Bob Hawke enrolled in a doctoral program at the ANU and then took a job with the ACTU, a defining moment in his career path. After fighting many battles at the ACTU for working Australians, including the basic wage decision, he went on to become the member for Wills in 1980. In just a few years, he would become prime minister—quite a remarkable achievement.

He was elected prime minister in a double dissolution election after then prime minister Malcolm Fraser called a snap election. As we have already heard from the Leader of the Government, Hawke had only just been elected leader, not long before polling day. Fraser and his team thought that the best way to capitalise on possible leadership problems was to call a snap election. Of course, that turned out to be a disastrous mistake for the then Fraser government. Labor gained 24 seats in that election, sweeping the former ACTU president, Bob Hawke, to power and securing a 3.6 per cent swing.

In government, there were many very big-ticket items that changed the country dramatically. Bob Hawke and his government promptly cemented the Prices and Incomes Accord, an agreement between federal Labor and representative unions. It was a revolutionary agreement for wage restraint in return for sweeping social reform, particularly including the introduction of Medicare. Enacting Medicare went on to change the fabric of society, ensuring that we had a healthcare system for all, not just the well-off. It was a system that did not discriminate, a system that boosted the economy and kept people well and a system that is an integral part of our health system today.

Hawke ensured that we did not go down the same path as countries like the United States, where there is a patchwork of healthcare systems that primarily benefit only those who can afford them. He introduced other sweeping reforms, particularly to the economy, including the floating of the dollar and the sale of the government-owned bank, which were very difficult decisions at the time but laid some of the foundations for the modern and outward-looking economy that we have today.

He was a strong advocate for the environment, well ahead of his time, famously supporting moves to protect the Franklin River from damming. Importantly, he was ahead of his time in other areas. In 1988, at Barunga in the Northern Territory, Bob Hawke was presented with the Barunga Statement, which now hangs in federal parliament. Hawke committed to a treaty process that I think many people still call unfinished business, business that the last Labor state government continued on the long road that is difficult, but this country is getting there.

I think what many people thought about Bob Hawke, and what they thought set him apart, was how genuine he was. He was committed and he was not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve. He was a partner with the public throughout the good times and the bad. In 1984, when Bob Hawke shared his devastation about his daughter's addiction to heroin, there was not a dry eye in many houses watching that footage on the evening news. Bob Hawke was that kind of guy, the sort of guy that you could have a beer or 10 or 12 with.

I was lucky to spend some time with Bob Hawke after he retired from politics. One of the many things I admired greatly about Bob Hawke is how actively he stayed in campaigning for the Labor Party after he retired from politics. During the 2007 federal election campaign, I was fortunate to drive him around for a couple of days to shopping centres throughout Adelaide where he was literally mobbed by adoring fans. The genuine regard in which people held Bob Hawke saw him mobbed whenever he went to shopping centres.

Then again in 2010, Bob Hawke spent a couple of days in South Australia and I quickly volunteered to spend those couple of days with him, picking him up from the airport and ferrying him from place to place. I learnt a very great deal about some of the insights into Bob Hawke, some of the very interesting and very funny stories from his early days and just the sort of person that he was.

He is survived by his second wife, Blanche, his children, his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren. On behalf of the Labor Party, I want to thank Bob Hawke for all he has done for the labour movement. We will miss him dearly and we will attempt to live up to his ideals and passion for making a difference.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (15:52): March on. Before Bob Hawke's imminent passing, Bob made it clear to the Labor Party headquarters that the campaign and volunteers, win or lose, must march on. Despite Bob knowing the end was near, his energy was directed towards his family and his beloved Labor Party and country. To march on, to keep going, was the message Bob left echoing in the minds of many Labor volunteers to fight for the Labor legacy and build on Bob's legacy, a legacy that surrounds us in monuments that remind us of what a Labor government can achieve.

We did not deliver victory on 18 May, but we will, as he rightfully said, march on. Bob was a leader of conviction. He brought a nation together. Bob's most powerful and enduring tributes will not necessarily be his loud jackets or his words or acts of empathy. They are, however, I believe, the world-class universities that stand in our community today that were made accessible to all Australians. It is the modern and competitive economy that we enjoy today, with an idea that growth is stronger when it is shared, when wages and living standards rise and security for retirement is provided through the creation of a compulsory superannuation scheme.

Legacies like Bob's dedication to education enriched our country forever. It is hard to believe that fewer than three in 10 students finished school when Bob came to office. Remarkably, eight in 10 finished school when he left. Bob Hawke gave many life gifts to every Australian but there is a green and gold monument to Bob Hawke that we all carry with us right now, and that is our Medicare card, a promise made in green and gold that the health of all Australians matters. Bob's drive to bring people together, to not label or segregate communities, is what I feel made him the leader he was and the leader who was loved by all Australians.

I want to touch on a few personal stories, some very similar to those of many other members in both this and the other chamber. Putting aside Bob's political achievements, I know Bob had an opportunity to be part of a fabulous school community because he went to a fantastic school, the same regional school in South Australia that I went to—many, many years later—Maitland Area School, now known as Central Yorke.

In 1935, Bob and his family moved to Maitland from Bordertown, and perhaps we were the only two Labor people in the village. It was here, as in many cases, that Bob's loud voice at the time not only resulted in him getting into trouble but also proved his ability to be a leader. In his school report, which you can see at the Hawke Library, it states:

Bob is capable of achieving very good work but would have received higher marks if it were not for his carelessness.

This feedback worked for him. He went from being an average student in his class to getting the highest marks in his class for the remainder of his time at Maitland.

Another story that happened in Maitland, which probably no-one outside of Maitland knows about, is that Bob Hawke could have been the prime minister we never had. At a very young age, Bob was pulled out of the local Maitland dam by a local farmer after almost drowning. So I do thank that farmer because he delivered to us one of the greatest prime ministers this country has ever seen.

Another story—and this is when it comes more to the time when I started to meet Bob—is that, when I was working in the party office, I was asked to contact Bob's office to organise a meeting. I looked up the directory thinking I was calling his office. It rang out and I did not think much more of it. Two weeks later, our receptionist answered the phone and called out, saying, 'Emily, there's a Bob Hawke on the phone for you.' I thought, 'One of the guys is clearly messing around.' I took the call and said, 'Who is it this time? Who's pretending to be Bob Hawke?' Then I heard the voice, 'It is Bob Hawke.' I was incredibly embarrassed after that and the conversation did not go very well, but he did organise the meeting.

Later on, I did something very similar to what the Hon. Kyam Maher just stated and also what the member for Croydon in the other place said today. I was one of the very lucky few who was given the opportunity to pick Bob up from the hotel he was staying at in Adelaide and drive him down to Colonnades. It was the longest drive of my life and I was terrified about doing this. When I picked him up it was a terrible, windy day. I pulled up to the hotel very nervous. I got out and opened the door for him. He quickly shut the door and said words I cannot repeat in this chamber to highlight how windy it was. I certainly was not as nervous after his opening line to me.

As the member for Croydon said in the other place, he was just incredibly distracted, thinking about the many, many things that were always going through his mind, even at that point in his political life when he was not in politics. He was on the phone the entire trip and had to borrow my phone, because his went flat, to do radio interviews for the trip down there.

From the second we walked into Colonnades I saw something I have not seen in any other political leader—and there have been a few in previous years. He was absolutely swamped when we walked into the food court in Colonnades. He must be eating a lot of ice cream, because the member for Croydon said the same thing. He shared an ice cream with a very adoring fan in the food court. There were many, many people, young and old—it did not matter what age group they were from, everyone just loved Bob and they could not get enough of him on that day.

I pay my respects and give my thoughts to Blanche and her family, to Bob's family and also to his very loyal adviser, Jill. Anyone who ever called his office instead of his home would have spoken to Jill. She was always there and she was very, very protective of Bob.

Many have said that in Australian history and Australian politics there will always be BH and AH: before Hawke and after Hawke. I could not agree more. It was not just Bob's loud jackets that were technicolour; Bob's emotions were a technicolour of tears and temper, and they were vividly displayed. He did not hide who he was. He did not treat voters like fools, and he had a personal ambition to change Australia. He achieved what many politicians could only ever dream of achieving. He left this country a kinder, better and bolder country. Bob, we will march on and we will continue your legacy.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (16:00): I rise today to support the condolence motion for the Hon. Robert James Lee Hawke, the 23^rd Prime Minister of Australia. It is with sadness and pride that I speak today on this motion. Sadness because a great man has passed away, but pride because of the great contribution that Bob Hawke left after a lifetime of work within the labour movement.

Bob Hawke had an extraordinary career, both as a union leader and later as prime minister. Few Australians have made such a large contribution to our nation as Bob Hawke, and with his passing Australia has lost a man who gave so much for his country. Many will remember Bob Hawke as a much-loved larrikin, who could down a yard glass of beer in 11 seconds, the quintessential Australian who would become a beloved figure both in the labour movement and across the nation.

The omnigregarious, charismatic man who bestowed his prime ministerial approval for a national sickie was someone who cared very deeply about Australia and Australians. Bob Hawke abhorred racism, placed a high priority on improving the status of the lives of women, fought for the rights of unions to organise and bargain and championed the right of every Australian to access a world-class health system.

Bob Hawke had a modest start in life, born in Bordertown, South Australia, in 1929. He went on to study at the University of Western Australia and later at the University College of Oxford. Hawke joined the Australian Council of Trade Unions in 1958 and after a decade became its president, from 1970 to 1988. I was lucky to get involved in the trade union movement myself in the late 1970s and became an organiser in 1984, and I know that he played a major part in industrial relations right through his prime ministership.

In 1980, he decided to enter parliament. At this stage of Hawke's career, he was one of the best known and admired public figures in the country. As president of the ACTU, Hawke championed causes such as opposing the war in Vietnam and opposing French nuclear testing in the Pacific. Hawke vehemently opposed apartheid in South Africa and campaigned for racial equality. He defended Nelson Mandela against conservatives who labelled Mandela a terrorist.

In 1980, Hawke entered the federal parliament and went on to become the Labor leader on the very same day the election was called by Malcolm Fraser. Hawke and the Labor Party successfully formed government in March 1983, taking 75 of the 125 seats in the House of Representatives.

Hawke, along with his treasurer, Paul Keating, undertook the challenge of managing an ailing economy by working closely with business and workers. His government started work by deregulating the financial system and exposing it to competition. Then came the floating of the dollar on the world market rather than tying its value to any standard. This process helped reshape Australia's relationship with Asia, Europe and the US.

Hawke was also instrumental in forming APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, in 1989, he reformed superannuation for workers and outlawed gender discrimination in the workforce. His government also implemented stronger environmental controls, overruling Tasmania's plans to build a controversial dam. Hawke's legacy is one of reform to the economy, which set our nation on a strong course. In doing so, Hawke adhered to a belief that a system based on the idea of growth is stronger when it is shared, built around the notion that wages and living standards should rise and a safety net should be put in place for those who would fall on hard times.

Hawke's legacy, naturally, endures today. Hawke was not only a larrikin, he was also never frightened to show his emotions, and on a number of occasions he would shed tears, quite emotionally, on TV in front of a national and international audience. It was this that made him an icon in Australia: people felt confident that this man truly cared about the things he believed in and the people he represented. Hawke's legacy endures all around us and can be found wherever we look. It is in our Medicare card, our world-class universities, our modern economy, our antidiscrimination protections and the preservation of the Daintree Rainforest and Franklin River.

Hawke was loved right up until the end. Hawke played a significant role even though he retired in about 1992. Hawke was still very active right up until within days of his passing away. Hawke touched the hearts of many people in the movement. I had the pleasure of meeting him on a number of occasions. He would come to Adelaide quite often, and his favourite restaurant was Paul's restaurant on Gouger Street. There was no pretension about Hawkie. When he came to Adelaide that was the thing he wanted to do at night time—go and have a nice fish dinner at Paul's restaurant.

I remember one time when Dana was in the Senate, and there was a leadership challenge between Kevin Rudd and Kim Beazley. We got home—one of the rare times we got home at night reasonably early—and there was a message on the tape from, well, we knew it was Bob Hawke, we knew what he sounded like, saying, 'Dana, Bob Hawke here, give me a call.' So she gave him a call, and Blanche answered the phone. Dana told her who she was, and she called him. I could hear him on the phone; we had the phone sitting between us. She said, 'Bob, Dana's on the phone, Dana Wortley.' He came to the phone, and he was lobbying on behalf of Kim Beazley. Dana was very quick in her response. Dana said, 'Look, Bob, you don't have to worry, I'm supporting Kim Beazley.' After about five seconds of jubilation, he said, 'Thanks very much for that,' and went off.

Also another story: on the day he died we had a meeting of the Torrens sub-branch. There were about 90 people there ready to meet with the candidates, Steve Georganas for Adelaide and Cressida for Sturt. Just as Cressida was coming through the door Steve was speaking, and my son came up to me and whispered in my ear that Bob had passed away. At that very minute, Cressida came in with tears pouring down her cheeks. It took her about three or four minutes to compose herself before she started speaking. But this is the impact that this man had on many people who knew him. So it is with great sadness that I am here speaking about him passing away. I support the condolence motion.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (16:09): I rise to associate myself with the remarks made by previous speakers and support this motion of condolence for former Prime Minister Bob Hawke. As a member of generation X, Bob was my first prime minister, the first one I really remember. All I remembered of Malcolm Fraser was that his wife was called Tamie, and I was at quick pains to point out that it was spelt very differently, and a very different Tamie.

Bob Hawke was my first prime minister. I was a generation X child growing up with the threat of a nuclear winter and global warming. It was little surprise then that one of the things I remember best of my first prime minister is his work on the environment, taking the lead and using the instrument of section 52 of our constitution, that external affairs power, regarding the decision of the High Court in the Franklin Dam case in 1983.

Although those states had control over their land matters, when Australia became party to international agreements for environmental protection, commonwealth law could override state law. It is not often that I welcome that these days. Certainly the enactment of the World Heritage Properties Conservation Act 1983, giving the commonwealth responsibility for all the places listed as world heritage areas and the government moving for world heritage listing of both Tasmania's forests and of course those rainforests in North Queensland, was something that I thought was a mark of great leadership.

To me, Bob Hawke was the prime minister who championed the Sex Discrimination Act. As a teenager I watched those debates and realised that often truth is the first casualty in parliamentary debates. There were ridiculous stories of workers and what would happen should we have equality between the sexes in our workplaces that would unfold and were portrayed in our national parliament. I remember the minister for the status of woman, Susan Ryan, and her fortitude. I remember the development of things such as the national agenda for women, the affirmative action agency and, of course, the passage of that Sex Discrimination Act in 1984.

I particularly remember that Bob Hawke talked about treaty. We did hear it on the radio, we did see it on the television, we thought it was actually going to happen but, of course, we are still waiting for treaty. Back then, in 1989, the department for Aboriginal affairs was replaced with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC). Heady days that I hope we see again.

Thirty years ago to this very day I remember, as many people across the country who were alive then would, Bob Hawke shedding a tear at the human rights atrocities that were taking place in Tiananmen Square. For weeks we had witnessed massive rallies of people in both Beijing and Shanghai and we had heard their call for democratic reform. We were inspired by their idealism and courage and Bob Hawke, our prime minister, called on the Chinese government to withdraw their troops from that deployment against those unarmed civilians, to respect the will of its people, stating quite profoundly that 'to crush the spirit and body of youth is to crush the very future of China itself'.

He backed those words and those tears with real action, offering over 20,000 humanitarian visas to Chinese students who were then living in Australia. The families of those students were also invited here where we do indeed, for those who come across the seas, have boundless plains to share. Cabinet papers tell us that that decision was made without consultation to cabinet. He made that decision because it was the right thing to do and he made that decision with the backing of this nation.

I do not have a personal experience of meeting Bob Hawke, but he certainly did once ruin my school excursion. Back in 1983, when Bob Hawke became leader just as Malcolm Fraser called an election, my school had already booked in to go to Canberra to visit Parliament House. Shortly after that, on the day that the Hawke government was in fact sitting for their first day in parliament, our class duly arrived—as we had been preparing for many weeks by that point; certainly it had been planned prior to the election being called—and we were told, 'I'm sorry, there is not enough space for you all here; some of you will have to go to the National Art Gallery instead, but some of you we can fit in a small space up here and you have to be very quiet because all of the new ministers are being sworn in today and it's a very exciting day and they have all brought their families.'

So we were split into half and, quite honestly, I wanted to go to the National Art Gallery but somehow I ended up seeing Bob Hawke's first day as prime minister of the nation. I remember being very high up, very far away, and I know it was only the old Parliament House but I remember thinking he was a very short man, as I am sure many people did over time, but that shortness of stature belied his bigness of heart.

We were proud as a school because our local member for Kingsford Smith, Lionel Bowen, had just become the deputy prime minister—a great day for us. Back then, the nuclear disarmament movement was just starting to kick off and the later member for Kingsford Smith, Peter Garrett, who at that time was a member of the Nuclear Disarmament Party, had also given us great pride in the months to come under that Hawke era.

I also remember quite vividly the partnership of Bob and Hazel. Hazel Hawke was the first prime minister's wife that I remember, other than denying that Tamie Fraser was any relation to me, as would often be the charge. I recall the sacrifices of Hazel, the family that suffered with a daughter with drug addiction, that suffered in the public eye, that stood against racism, that stood for working people, that stood for what was fair and right, that stood in support of Nelson Mandela when he was labelled a terrorist, when he was not supported by groups like Amnesty International, and that stood with courage.

I remember Hazel's fortitude and courage and her sacrifice. One particular sacrifice that Hazel has recorded in her memoirs, and that was a passionate concern for her, was that she become very much a pro-choice advocate. In 1952, Hazel had an abortion so that Bob could go on to be a Rhodes scholar. At that time, the criteria required that he be unwed to be a Rhodes scholar, so they chose not to have that child at that point and to marry later so that Bob could fulfil some of his dreams and ambitions.

Bob's ambitions, dreams and achievements were well recorded later in life by the great love of his life, Blanche d'Alpuget, as well. We remember so many things about Bob: the Guinness world record beer drinking; the loud jackets and the telling people, which again was of great excitement at my school, that any boss who sacks someone for not turning up to work today is a bum. My school took that quite literally to heart: we refused to study that day, much to our teachers' chagrin, but the lessons he taught us were to have the courage of our convictions, to have that compassion and to not crush our youth.

I have often talked in this place about the moment Bob Hawke talked about no child need live in poverty in this country. Yes, he went off record and he paid a price for that. He often said that he wished he had stuck to the script, which of course was that no child need live in poverty, but the greater hope is that no child should live in poverty, and that was the greatness of Bob Hawke.

I am sure he gave Hazel many headaches and I am sure that is why she actually ended up advertising those particular tablets later in life, and we trusted that Hazel had had many headaches. He was the larrikin leader, but he also, along with those headaches, gave us a lot of hope, and I hope that sort of hope comes back to the leadership we have in this country some time soon.

The Hon. C. BONAROS (16:18): I rise to speak in support of the motion honouring former prime minister and Labor luminary Bob Hawke. Robert James Lee Hawke, or Bob as he was more commonly known, was, as we have heard, born in the small country town of Bordertown, South Australia, on 9 December 1929, and passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home in Sydney on 16 May, aged 89.

He was the prime minister of Australia in my formative years, throughout so much of my school life. He was very much a household name and one that I often heard family members older than me talk about with a great deal of respect. My father-in-law still lists him as our best ever prime minister, and I know that he is not alone. He was above class, above party and a consensus leader with a fierce determination to make things better for all Australians. In his own words, he said:

In whatever you can, try and help those around you. This is both the right and the good thing to do—but also it will make your own life more satisfying.

Bob remains the Australian Labor Party's most successful prime minister, winning four election victories from 1983 to 1991. I remember that time as when Australia came into its own with its own independent and uniquely Australian identity. He gave us a new definition of Australian nationalism. Bob Hawke was the leader of the land Down Under.

Advance Australia Fair was adopted as our country's national anthem by the Governor-General in 1984 on the recommendation of Bob Hawke. The announcement followed a decade of debate, a national opinion poll in 1974 and a plebiscite in 1977. At the same time, Mr Hawke announced that green and gold would be officially recognised as Australia's national colours. It was the period that coined the phrase 'put another shrimp on the barbie', the phrase uttered by Aussie larrikin Paul Hogan in those celebrated and hugely successful ads for the Australian Tourism Commission first aired all those years ago in 1984.

Bob Hawke's tenure as prime minister saw the passage of the Australia Act 1986, the short title to a pair of separate but intrinsically linked pieces of legislation, one an act of the commonwealth and the other an act of the parliament of the United Kingdom. The nearly identical acts came into effect simultaneously and were passed by the two parliaments to eliminate the uncertainty as to whether the commonwealth parliament had the ultimate authority to do so. Each state also passed its own enabling legislation.

The effect of the acts eliminated once and for all the remaining possibilities for the UK to legislate with respect to Australia, for the UK to be involved in Australian government and for an appeal from any Australian court to a British court. It meant that the High Court of Australia became the highest court of the land and ended appeals from state courts to the Privy Council, something that the federal courts ceased in 1968. The acts cemented the status of the Commonwealth of Australia as a sovereign, independent and federal nation.

The 1980s were a great era in our nation's rich history, maybe best accentuated by Australia's inaugural win of the America's Cup in 1983—the first ever country other than the US to do so—with our secret weapon, thewinged keel. One iconic moment of Bob Hawke's time in office was his response to Australia II's historic America's Cup triumph, which he watched from the confines of the Royal Perth Yacht Club. Donned in a sports coat with a map of this great country and the word 'Australia' emblazoned across it and a wide grin you could not wipe from his face, his advice to bosses around the country is legendary. If you were not around to experience it at the time, you can still find the clip on YouTube.

Bob Hawke energised this wonderful country and indeed the Labor Party by ushering in a decade of significant economic and social reform. He was able to harness his charismatic personality, powers of persuasion and strong relationships with both business and unions to forge a powerful consensus that defined a leadership style not seen since.

He had a touch of the Aussie larrikin and maverick about him, coupled with an amazing intellect that saw him attend Oxford University in 1953 as a Rhodes scholar. He studied economics at Oxford and submitted a thesis on the history of wage fixing in Australia. Bob graduated with a Bachelor of Letters in 1955, returning to Australia the following year and joining the Australian Council of Trade Unions, where he fought for higher wages at the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission.

As prime minister, he cemented Australia's place on the world stage, building bridges with Asia and beyond. With Paul Keating as treasurer alongside him, he modernised the economy, integrating it into overseas markets, floating the Australian dollar and being the chief architect to the historic wage accord between big business and unions. Bob Hawke made Australia a major player on the global stage as our country took advantage of the opportunities for us to compete internationally. He was, and until his death remained, a visionary.

As other members have mentioned, the Hawke government also oversaw stronger environmental controls, overruling Tasmania's plans to build the proposed Gordon below Franklin dam on the Gordon River in pristine Tasmanian wilderness. The dam would have flooded a large section of the Franklin River in south-west Tasmania. The World Heritage Committee declared the area a World Heritage Site in 1982; however, the listing of the area as a World Heritage Site by itself would not have prevented the construction of the dam. To stop the dam required incorporation of the protection of the area under international law into Australian domestic law.

In the midst of a growing national controversy and protests, led by emerging political leader Bob Brown, the Tasmanian government passed laws in 1982 allowing the dam to proceed and the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric Commission commenced preliminary works for the construction of that dam. During the 1983 federal election the Labor Party, under Bob, promised to intervene and prevent construction of the dam.

The Liberal Party, led by Malcolm Fraser, refused to use the external affairs powers to intervene to stop the dam, and this helped Labor win the election because it turned out that it was not only the right thing to do but the popular thing to do. The newly installed Hawke Labor government subsequently passed the World Heritage Properties Conservation Act in 1983. That act, in conjunction with the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, enabled the government to prohibit clearing, excavation and other activities within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

I pause to reflect on the fact that Bob was announced Labor leader on the very same day Fraser decided to call the election, and just four weeks later was installed as prime minister after a historic, landslide victory—an absolutely remarkable achievement.

The Tasmanian government challenged these actions of the Hawke Labor government and refused to halt construction of the dam, arguing that the federal government did not have power under the Commonwealth Constitution to stop the dam. Undeterred, however, the Hawke government commenced proceedings in the High Court for an injunction and declaration of the validity of the laws, which culminated in a historic decision delivered in July 1983.

In a four-three split decision, the High Court largely upheld the validity of the commonwealth laws, thereby preventing the dam proceeding—an absolutely monumental moment. This decision has had enormous significance for the extent of commonwealth powers to make laws under the Australian Constitution, including its powers to make laws to protect our environment, and for that I am sure we are all forever grateful.

The Hawke government banned uranium mining at Jabiluka on the western border of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, and gave highly publicised priority to the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park. The park was inscribed on the World Heritage List in three stages, beginning in 1991 and concluding in 1992. He brought environmental issues into the national discourse.

Bob Hawke's legacy continued with him leading the widespread reform of education and training. He inherited a fanatical commitment to education from his schoolteacher mother, Ellie. When he came into office in 1983, Australia had one of the lowest high school retention rates in the developed world; just 30 per cent completed year 12. When he left office that number had increased to an extraordinary 70 per cent. You can only imagine the difference that made to this country.

Hawke's reputation as a playboy should not be confused with sexism. As we know, at the ACTU Hawke championed equal pay for women. In 1984, the Sex Discrimination Act outlawed sex discrimination in the workplace. Bob Hawke appointed Susan Ryan to the portfolio of Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women, and she served in that role from 1983 to 1988. He even advocated a treaty—as the Hon. Tammy Franks alluded to, still unrealised—with Indigenous Australia

The introduction of Medicare, of course, will forever remain one of Bob Hawke's signature policy achievements, one that we are all extraordinarily grateful for. As we know, before Medicare most Australian families had to pay for private insurance to cover their expenses in hospital. The situation in Australia before Medicare was similar to that of America today, where medical expenses continue to push families into poverty. Hospital and medical expenses were one of the main reasons for personal and non-business-related bankruptcy before Medicare. After Medicare, authorities actually removed it from the published list of reasons because it fell to such an extraordinary low.

Bob Hawke unveiled Medicare in 1984, bringing the scheme into line with the Medibank model originally introduced by Gough Whitlam and partially dismantled by Malcolm Fraser's government. It became Australia's first affordable universal system of health insurance. The goal of Medicare was to greatly improve access to good medical care. It was the biggest and greatest social reform of our time, and Bob Hawke was responsible for that.

Bob also abhorred racism. He was disgusted with apartheid in South Africa and could not abide the timid responses around the world. As head of the ACTU, he was a leader in the protest against the visiting Springboks. As PM, he marshalled support at Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings in the Bahamas in 1985 and in Vancouver in 1987 to put together financial sanctions against South Africa.

On this precise day, we also mark the 30-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, which saw the slaughter of hundreds of innocent people on 4 June 1989 as the People's Liberation Army troops cracked down on pro-democracy protesters, many of them students, in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square. It was the culmination of a series of protests that challenged the authority of China's leaders. The Chinese government's brutal response to the student-led pro-democracy protests sent absolute shock waves around the world. Of course, upon receiving the news about what had happened, Bob—being Bob—was shocked and sickened into action. He said:

When I received a message from the Embassy telling me of the incidents of the tanks rolling over the students, it broke my heart for China.

On 9 June 1989, he spoke in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra at a memorial service for the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre. He described the Australian embassy briefing that graphically catalogued how the pro-democracy student demonstrators had been killed. As he spoke, tears streamed down his face and he had to stop several times to compose himself before he said:

We meet here to show our support for the Chinese people and to reaffirm our commitment to the ideals of democracy and freedom of expression that they have so eloquently espoused…To crush the spirit and body of youth is to crush the very future of China itself.

Hawke condemned the Chinese government for the ruthless repression of its people. He instructed our ambassador in Beijing, David Sadleir, to convey this view to the Chinese government. He cancelled a planned visit to China later that year and he suspended other government-to-government exchanges, including a visit by the HMAS Parramatta to Shanghai. Hawke, who first visited China in late 1978 as the president of the ACTU and was regarded as one of Beijing's staunchest allies, did not have any significant contact with Chinese leaders for the next three years.

In response to the slaughter, Hawke extended the visas of Chinese nationals living in Australia, as alluded to by the Hon. Tammy Franks. However, there was opposition from within the Public Service to the idea of granting temporary humanitarian protection. 'You can't do that, Prime Minister,' is apparently what he was told. Of course, as we have heard, he rejected that advice and said, 'I've just done it.' It is one of the finest moments of Hawke's prime ministership. As a result, about 42,000 permanent residency visas were granted to Chinese nationals living in Australia.

He was prepared to take risks, something that few politicians are prepared to do today. He was immensely popular but never a populist. He was driven by purpose and set out to achieve that purpose. Bob Hawke was easy to like, with a twinkle in his eye and a burst of energy on the Australian political scene, with such steely determination to change Australia for the better—much better. He was not a perfect man—none of us are perfect—but he was an extraordinary politician and an extraordinary prime minister.

He was not just a Labor government's prime minister, he was truly the people's prime minister, loved and respected by Aussies of all political persuasions. I am rather saddened by the fact that I do not have any personal stories of Bob, other than the one time that I got to see him when he presented before Justice Kirby, so I figure I got two in one on that day. But, by gee, I and I think we all have a lot to be grateful for in his name. Vale, Bob Hawke, you beauty.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (16:34): I rise to support the condolence motion and warmly endorse the words of praise by all my colleagues here today. Bob Hawke is the Australian political figure I admire the most, and he made a huge impression on me at a young age. He was a rambunctious man who possessed that rare commodity of intellectual smarts yet whose manner and language could cut right through with kings, queens and world leaders to cranky entertainers, boilermakers and pensioners. He could be both the statesman and the dinky-di Aussie bloke with a larrikin streak, complete with human flaws, of which he was open about.

Born in Bordertown in 1929, we can also rightly claim the son of a preacher man as a South Australian, even though his family moved interstate later on. Bob had the persona and charisma of a rock star and that legendary status never waned right until his final breath. The media loved him and Bob was skilled in using it to his advantage through different facets of his public life. I do not know if you have ever noticed one of his quirks: when he made a point of inflection that left eyebrow would often arc up.

I came across Bob in fleeting encounters a handful of times, the first in 1974 when I worked as a cadet journalist for The News and I was based in Melbourne at the offices of The Herald Sun. A group of workmates had been invited to a barbecue and a hit of tennis at his place, replete with the glistening swimming pool, that he joked loudly while chomping on a cigar came courtesy of a legal stoush with my 'bloody boss' at that time, Rupert Murdoch. It was followed by that trademark burst of laughter. You could not help but be mesmerised by him.

Bob was the boss of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, where he skilfully negotiated pay rises for blue-collar workers. In those days, the ACTU was extremely powerful, so powerful that he threatened Frank Sinatra would never leave the country unless he could walk on water and until the crooner apologised for insulting members of the fourth estate at his opening Melbourne concert at the place they called 'the House of Stoush', Festival Hall. I was fortunate to be in the audience that night but I shrank into my seat as Ol' Blue Eyes, with that customary burning cigarette hanging from his fingers, launched into his tirade, calling us 'bums, pimps and parasites' and female journalists 'buck and a half hookers'.

There was uproar in The Herald and Weekly Times editorial office the next morning. Journalists called on the unions to act, forcing the cancellation of Sinatra's second show. The Transport Workers Union refused to refuel his private jet so the party took a commercial flight to Sydney where cranky Frank was holed up in the Boulevard Hotel for three days contemplating calling the Seventh Fleet to come from Tokyo into Sydney Harbour to rescue him, and trying to get Bob's equivalent in the US, Teamsters' boss, Jimmy Hoffa, to exert some muscle. Bob Hawke turned up after the third day using his exceptional negotiating skills and elicited a form of an apology that quelled an international incident that made global headlines.

In a touch of irony, the next time I briefly encountered Bob was when he waltzed unannounced into a Hindley Street nightclub, aptly called Sinatra's, during an ALP national conference, holding up the bar in the wee hours with his jovial banter and blue jokes punctuated by that blaring laugh, before heading back to the Ansett Gateway Hotel, now the Stamford Plaza. In the wake of the Dismissal, Bob was an active participant whipping up the hysteria at migrant and worker rallies in Victoria Square with Labor luminaries, Gough Whitlam, Jim Cairns, Clyde Cameron and Don Dunstan. Bob stood out with his ocker style and you just knew politics was going to be his calling, and becoming prime minister his destiny.

As we have heard, Hawke made some of the most significant economic, social and environmental reforms of the postwar era, helping create the Australia we enjoy today. He tore down racial discrimination barriers here and championed the anti-apartheid push in South Africa to free Nelson Mandela. He was a fearless crusader for human rights.

Bob Hawke was a man for all seasons. He was unafraid to show his raw emotion in public when revealing on national TV that one of his daughters was a heroin addict or putting Richard Carlton back in his place after his 'blood on the hands' remark following Hawke's coup that unseated Bill Hayden as Labor leader and, of course, his teary condemnation of the massacre in Tiananmen Square.

In his tribute, former Liberal prime minister and political rival John Howard thought Hawke's biggest strength was his communication skills, particularly on television. Much to his chagrin, he was often more remembered for those off-the-cuff moments. In one campaign speech opener, he went off his speech script and decreed that no Australian child would live in poverty by 1990. What he meant to say was that no Australian child need live in poverty. Thirty years ago, while campaigning in Whyalla, local Bob Bell heckled him, 'You get more a week than we get a year.' An open camera mic caught the clash, with Hawkie telling Mr Bell, 'You're a silly old bugger.'

A few years earlier, when Alan Bond's Australia II broke a 132-year-old hoodoo to win sailing's America's Cup, he doffed that cringeworthy jacket with 'Australia' emblazoned all over it and declared that any boss who did not give his workers the day off was a bum. Of the bum remark, he once said:

I'm very proud of it in one way (and) very disappointed that all the other, many brilliant things I've said are never mentioned.

Bob Hawke will forever be remembered for the brilliant things he did as a Labor leader, a union stalwart and, foremost, the fiercely proud Australian he was. From now, whenever I hear Waltzing Matilda my thoughts will be drifting to the ghost of Bob Hawke belting out those verses 'by a billabong' as he did in the later years of his life at a folk festival, but I thank him for not making it our national anthem.

The PRESIDENT: Treasurer, do you wish to sum up the debate?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (16:42): No, Mr President. I just thank all members for their contributions.

The PRESIDENT: I ask honourable members to stand in their places and carry the motion in silence.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.

Sitting suspended from 16:45 to 16:54.