In an article first published on The Conversation, political commentator MICHELLE GRATTAN looks at reactions to the death of former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke who passed away on Thurday at the age of 89…
The death of Bob Hawke at the age of 89 has united politicians across the spectrum, with tributes to his character and contribution to modern Australia.
Scott Morrison described him as âprofoundly Australianâ and âa conviction politician who became a political legendâ.
Australia’s former prime minister Bob Hawke gives a speech at the Labor Party’s federal election campaign launch event in Brisbane on 16th August, 2010. PICTURE: REUTERS/Daniel Munoz/File Photo
âBob Hawke was a great Australian who led and served our country with passion, courage, and an intellectual horsepower that made our country stronger.”
– Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
âBob Hawke was a great Australian who led and served our country with passion, courage, and an intellectual horsepower that made our country stronger,â Morrison said.
âHe was true to his beliefs in the Labor tradition and defined the politics of his generation and beyond. He was the most electorally-successful federal Labor leader in history: the winner of four successive elections and the longest-serving Labor prime minister.â
Hawke lent his weight strongly to Laborâs election campaign. Earlier this week, an open letter from him to voters declared âBill Shorten is ready to be Prime Minister of Australia. He will serve our nation well.â
Too frail to attend Laborâs launch, Hawke sent a message of good wishes. Shorten – who told the launch the ALP would win for Hawke and visited him the following day â said on Thursday night: âThe Australian people loved Bob because they knew Bob loved themâ.
âWith his passing, the labour movement salutes our greatest son, the Labor Party gives thanks for the life of our longest-serving prime minister and Australians everywhere remember and honour a man who gave so much to the country and people he cared for so deeply.â
Shorten told of seeing Hawke for the last time at his home on Monday, 6th May. âThe Sydney sun was out, that famous silver mane, now snow-white. Cigar in hand, strawberry milkshake on the table, the hefty bulk of his dictionary holding down the dayâs cryptic crossword.
“I gave the man who inspired me to go into politics a gentle hug, I tried to tell him what he meant to me, what he meant to all of us.
“I couldnât quite find the right words, few of us can, when weâre face-to-face with our heroes. But Bob knew.â
Paul Keating said that with Hawkeâs passing âthe great partnership I enjoyed with him passes too. A partnership we forged with the Australian people.
“But what remains and what will endure from that partnership are the monumental foundations of modern Australia.â
“I gave the man who inspired me to go into politics a gentle hug, I tried to tell him what he meant to me, what he meant to all of us. I couldnât quite find the right words, few of us can, when weâre face-to-face with our heroes. But Bob knew.â
– Australian Labor leader Bill Shorten, speaking of the last time he saw Hawke.
Hawke and Keating â who for years were estranged â joined forces in a campaign intervention to argue the case for Laborâs ability to manage the economy.
In his Thursday night statement Keating said: âIn what was our last collaboration, Bob and I were delighted to support Bill Shorten last week in recounting the rationale we employed in opening Australia to the world.
“Bob, of course, was hoping for a Labor victory this weekend. His friends too, were hoping he would see this.
“Bob possessed a moral framework for his important public life, both representing the workers of Australia and more broadly, the country at large.
“He understood that imagination was central to policy-making and never lacked the courage to do what had to be done to turn that imagination into reality.
“And that reality was the reformation of Australiaâs economy and society and its place in the worldâ.
Hawkeâs wife Blanche dâAlpuget described her husband as âa great Australian â many would say the greatest Australian of the post-war eraâ.
âBob Hawke and Paul Keating and their governments modernised the Australian economy, paving the way for an unprecedented period of recession-free economic growth and job creation,â she said in a statement.
âBobâs consensus-style approach of bringing together the trade union movement and the business community boosted job opportunities while increasing the social wage through Medicare and extra financial support for low-income families.
“Together with his highly talented cabinets, he foresaw the Asian Century and positioned Australia to take full advantage of it through a program of sweeping economic reforms.
“Among his proudest achievements were large increases in the proportion of children finishing high school, his role in ending apartheid in South Africa, and his successful international campaign to protect Antarctica from mining.
“Among his proudest achievements were large increases in the proportion of children finishing high school, his role in ending apartheid in South Africa, and his successful international campaign to protect Antarctica from mining.”
– Hawkeâs wife Blanche dâAlpuget.
“He abhorred racism and bigotry. His father, the Reverend Clem Hawke, told Bob that if you believed in the Fatherhood of God then you must also believe in the Brotherhood of Man. Bob would add today the Sisterhood of Women.â
dâAlpuget ended her tribute with the poignant words: âThe golden bowl is brokenâ.
Malcolm Turnbull tweeted: âFarewell Bob Hawke a great Australian, Labor leader and reforming Prime Minister. Australia is a better place because of him. Lucy and I send our love and condolences to Blanche and all of his familyâ.
The Nationals Darren Chester tweeted: âIn his own words: Bob Hawke wanted to be remembered as âa bloke who loved his country…and wasnât essentially changed by high officeâ. He achieved both. Thoughts with my Labor friends who are hurting tonight. RIP Hawkie.â
Tony Abbott came in for sharp social media criticism for bringing politics into his comment. He described Hawke as âa great prime ministerâ.
But he said Hawkeâs key achievements â financial deregulation, tariff cuts, and privatisation – âwent against the Labor grain, as Laborâs more recent policy direction shows. You might almost say he had a Labor heart, but a Liberal headâ.
Michelle Grattan is a professorial fellow at the University of Canberra. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.