Episode 744
Bob Hawke
Fri, 2019-May-17 02:28 UTC
Length - 3:18
Direct Link
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.
With 197,466 views on Thursday, 16 May 2019 our article of the day is Bob Hawke.
Robert James Lee Hawke, (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician who served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia and Leader of the Labor Party from 1983 to 1991. Hawke served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wills from 1980 to 1992 and was Labor's longest serving Prime Minister.
Hawke was born in South Australia but moved to Western Australia as a child. He attended the University of Western Australia and then went on to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. In 1956, Hawke joined the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) as a research officer. Having risen to become responsible for wage arbitration, he was elected ACTU President in 1969, where he achieved a high public profile. After a decade serving in that role, Hawke announced his intention to enter politics, and was subsequently elected to the House of Representatives as the Labor MP for Wills.
Three years later, he led Labor to a landslide victory at the 1983 election and was sworn in as Prime Minister. He led Labor to victory three more times, in 1984, 1987 and 1990, making him the most electorally successful Labor Leader. The Hawke Government created Medicare and Landcare, brokered the Prices and Incomes Accord, established APEC, floated the Australian dollar, deregulated the financial sector, introduced the Family Assistance Scheme, announced "Advance Australia Fair" as the official national anthem, initiated superannuation pension schemes for all workers and oversaw passage of the Australia Act that removed all remaining jurisdiction by the United Kingdom from Australia. In June 1991, Treasurer Paul Keating unsuccessfully challenged for the leadership, believing that Hawke had reneged on the Kirribilli Agreement. Keating resigned from cabinet, but mounted a second challenge six months later where Hawke was ousted as Leader of the Labor Party by his deputy at the end of 1991. Hawke remains Labor's longest-serving Prime Minister, Australia's third-longest-serving Prime Minister, and until his death at the age of 89, Hawke was the oldest living former Australian Prime Minister. Hawke is the only Australian Prime Minister to be born in South Australia, and the only one raised and educated in Western Australia.
Hawke died on 16 May 2019, aged 89, two days before a federal election for which he and Keating had jointly campaigned for the Labor Party.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:28 UTC on Friday, 17 May 2019.
For the full current version of the article, see Bob Hawke on Wikipedia.
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This has been Russell. Thank you for listening to popular Wiki of the Day.
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