46 Facts About Hawke government

Hawke government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke of the Australian Labor Party from 1983 to 1991.

The government followed the Liberal-National Coalition Fraser government and was succeeded by another Labor administration, the Keating government, led by Paul Keating after an internal party leadership challenge in 1991.

Bob Hawke government served as president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions from 1969 to 1980.

Hawke government won the seat at the 1980 Election and was appointed as Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Employment and Youth Affairs by Opposition Leader Bill Hayden.

Hawke government served just one month as Opposition Leader before taking the ALP to victory against Fraser at the 1983 Election.

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Hawke government went on to become Australia's longest serving Labor prime minister and remains the third longest serving Australian prime minister after Robert Menzies and John Howard.

Hawke government again led the party to the 1984 Election and was returned with a reduced majority, in an expanded House of Representatives: with Labor taking 82 seats to the Coalition's 66.

Hawke government fought his final election in 1990, with Labor winning a nine-seat majority.

Hawke government retired from Parliament in February 1992, following the December 1991 leadership spill which saw him replaced as leader by Paul Keating.

Inaugural days of the Hawke government were distinctly different from those of the Whitlam era.

Rather than immediately initiating extensive reform programmes, Hawke government announced that Fraser's pre-election concealment of the budget deficit meant that many of Labor's election commitments would have to be deferred.

Hawke government convinced the Labor caucus to divide the ministry into two tiers, with only the most important Ministers attending regular cabinet meetings.

The caucus under Hawke government exhibited a much more formalised system of parliamentary factions, which significantly altered the dynamics of caucus operations.

Hawke government was a Rhodes Scholar; Keating left high school early.

Hawke government's enthusiasms were cigars, horse racing and sport whereas Keating preferred classical architecture, Mahler symphonies, and antique collecting.

Hawke government was a lapsed Protestant and Keating was a practising Catholic, although the extent of his commitment to formal practices are debated.

Hawke government came to power in 1983 amidst an economic downturn, but pursued a number of economic reforms that assisted in a strong recovery through the 1980s.

Economic factors at play during the Hawke government were globalisation, micro-economic reform and industrial relations reform, as well as the opening of Australian finance and industry to international competition and adjustments to the role of trade unions.

Hawke government concluded his term as Prime Minister with Australia in the midst of its Great Depression.

Hawke government has received criticism for his 'confrontationalist style' in siding with the airlines in the 1989 Australian pilots' strike.

The Hawke government did significantly increase the social wage as part of its Accord with the trade unions, a social democratic policy continued by the Keating government.

In 1984, the Hawke government introduced its three mine policy to limit the number of uranium mines in the Australia to three.

Hawke government carried out a series of other measures during its time in office.

Hawke government responded to the crisis initially by asking the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission to defer its national wage case.

Treasurer Keating was advised to tighten monetary policy, but, with forthcoming by-elections and a state election in New South Wales, the Hawke government opted to delay the potentially unpopular move, which would raise interest rates.

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In December 1987, Keating said that the Australian economy would weather the storm because the Hawke government had already balanced its Budget and brought down inflation.

Seven months into the crisis, Hawke government told the State Premiers that the "savings of Australia must be freed" to go into business investment for export expansion, and funding to the States was cut.

The Hawke government promised economic recovery for 1991 and launched a series of asset sales to increase revenue.

Hawke government said the Hawke-Keating government had increased the severity of the recession by initially encouraging the economy to boom post-stock crash as elections were approaching, which necessitated higher interest rates and tighter monetary policy than would otherwise have been necessary.

Hawke government brokered an increase for waterside workers and public servants.

Hawke government attributed the change to loss of confidence in communication.

Hawke government secured passage of the Australia Acts in 1986, severing remaining constitutional ties to Britain: ending the inclusion into Australian law of British Acts of Parliament, and abolishing remaining provisions for appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.

The Hawke government refused to fund the tall ship First Fleet Re-enactment Voyage which was staged on Sydney Harbour on Australia Day out of respect for Indigenous Australians.

In 1988 Hawke was the first to promise a treaty between Aboriginal peoples and the government, after receiving the Barunga Statement from Aboriginal elders, which called for such a treaty to be concluded.

In 1984, Hawke government appointed Charles Perkins as Secretary of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, making him the first Indigenous Australian to head a Commonwealth department.

In 1989 the Hawke government replaced the Department of Aboriginal Affairs with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission as the main administrative and funding agency for Indigenous Australians.

In 1985, the Hawke government officially returned ownership of Uluru, with Governor General Sir Ninian Stephen presiding over the ceremony handing the title deeds to the local Pitjantjatjara people.

In 1989, following community consultations and drawing on the advice of the Advisory Council for Multicultural Affairs, the Hawke government produced the National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia, which had bipartisan political support.

In education, the Hawke government sought to significantly widen educational opportunities for all Australians.

Hawke government sought to raise Australia's international profile in the United States, Russia, China, Japan and south-east Asia and took an interest in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

The Hawke government was the last Australian Government to operate within the international climate of the Cold War, which came to a conclusion in the aftermath of the 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall.

Hawke government developed warm relations with Republican Party Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H W Bush, as well as Secretary of State George Shultz.

Hawke government unsuccessfully lobbied New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange to change the policy and the ANZUS Treaty faced its most serious test.

The Hawke government elected to maintain an Australian naval presence in the Gulf following the surrender of Iraq and 1991 Peace Treaty.

John Kerin replaced Keating as Treasurer after Keating resigned, although Bob Hawke government himself was treasurer for a day after Paul Keating resigned.

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Hawke government refused, but was persuaded to call another leadership spill for 19 December 1991.