Hawke

Robert James Lee Hawke is one of the great men of Australian public life. A Rhodes scholar, he rejected an academic career to commit himself to the trade union movement. Son of devout Christian parents, he had been reared to public duty and to the ambition of political leadership. Hawke first came to prominence as a union wages advocate, and as President of the ACTU from 1970 to 1980 he was a master negotiator and peacemaker in industrial life. He agitated for social and economic reforms, becoming a folk hero and the most popular Australian of his time. He led the Labor Party to victory in the general election of March 1983 and, in winning three successive elections, became Australia's longest-serving Labor Prime Minister. As Prime Minister, Hawke would preside over some of the most influential economic reforms modern Australia had ever seen - floating the Australian dollar and deregulating the Australian financial system. This biography takes us through the successive governments until Hawke's resignation from Parliament in February 1992, and beyond. Blanche d'Alpuget's sensitivity and psychological insight greatly illuminate this complex and enigmatic man.