As Australia’s leader from 1983 to 1991, he spearheaded economic reforms and environmental protections.
By Harrison Smith Harrison Smith Obituary writer Email Bio Follow May 16 at 6:50 PM Bob Hawke, a former Australian prime minister who evolved from a mischievous union leader into a gray-haired statesman, spearheading a center-left agenda that made him one of the most popular and transformative leaders in his country’s modern era, died May 16 at his home in Sydney. He was 89.
Angering some members of his party, he also pursued a host of economic reforms, reducing tariffs, privatizing assets, floating the Australian dollar and opening the country to foreign banks. For the most part, voters were giddy — his approval rating soared to a record 75 percent, and he became the first Labor prime minister to win four elections in a row.
Negotiating between unions and corporations, he forged a landmark 1983 wage-restraint agreement known as the Accord, and six years later helped establish the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, a pro-trade group for nations across the Pacific Rim. By 1990, however, Australia had fallen into an economic downturn that spiraled into its worst recession since the Depression. Mr. Hawke faced mounting pressure from Keating, his cabinet colleague turned political rival, who ousted him from Labor’s leadership in 1991 and succeeded him in office. Asked in an outgoing news conference how he would like to be remembered as prime minister, Mr. Hawke doubled down on his everybloke reputation.
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