biography
| name: |
Hawke, Bob
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| |
popular name of Robert (James Lee) Hawke
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1929– )
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| biography:
| Australian statesman and prime minister (1983–91), born in Bordertown, South Australia. He studied at the universities of Western Australia and Oxford, and worked for the Australian Council of Trade Unions for over 20 years, before becoming a Labor MP in 1980. His party defeated the Liberals in the 1983 election only one month after adopting him as leader. A popular politician, known for his emotional outbursts, he was a skilled negotiator who won praise for his handling of industrial disputes. In 1990 he became the first Labor prime minister to win a fourth term in office, and the party's longest serving prime minister, but his role was challenged by Paul Keating in 1991, who narrowly defeated him in a leadership ballot. Hawke was largely responsible for his party's electoral successes, but many felt that traditional Labor values were discarded under his leadership. |
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