Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Deputy President. I'm very pleased to follow my fellow Queensland senator Senator Chisholm in making a few remarks in this condolence motion for former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and I'd like to begin at the outset by expressing my sympathy to his wife, Blanche, his family members and, of course, his partner in life, work and politics, Hazel.

I was 10 when Bob Hawke was first elected, in 1983, and that big win, which ushered in 13 years of Labor government, was the first election that I remember. I remember my father helping out on the local Labor campaign, and I'm not entirely sure if it was in that election campaign, but I'm pretty sure it was, that I remember helping my father deliver copies of the Yellow Pages, which of course doesn't exist anymore, as part of a Labor fundraising drive—Labor raised funds by getting paid to deliver the Yellow Pagesand I remember walking up and down the hills of Mount Gravatt with my father to deliver the Yellow Pages.

The thing I most remember from that night when Bob Hawke and Labor won in 1983 was Malcolm Fraser, the outgoing Prime Minister, crying on TV as he lost, and I remember saying to my father—not really knowing who Malcolm Fraser was, being a 10-year-old—'Dad, why is that guy crying?' and my dad rubbed his hands with glee: 'He's lost! And he's gone.' My father and my mother and all of my extended family, I know, were ecstatic to see Labor re-elected after being in the wilderness for a few years after the short-lived Whitlam government, which my family had also been very excited about.

So the first Hawke win in 1983 was the first election that I remember. And the first election that I worked on as a volunteer was the 1990 federal election, when Bob won, I think it was, his fourth term in office. The thing that I remember most about that, as a 17-year-old first-year university student handing out how-to-vote cards at Greenslopes State School, was that I had made some rookie errors in being a first-time helper. I'd signed up to hand out how-to-vote cards through the hottest part of the day, through the middle of the day, for more hours than I probably should have agreed to, because I wanted to play my part. Most importantly, what I hadn't realised was that if you're going to do that you need to take a hat and you need to put on a lot of suncream, and I did neither. I remember a couple of days afterwards—sure, we won the election; that was fantastic—having this terrible sunburn, to the point where the skin on my nose was peeling. I remember ripping it off and having this massive scab on my nose for a couple of weeks. At least the good thing about that was that it was a reminder to me that Labor had won the election and that I had played my little part in that. It was a good election to be part of.

As many others have said, the Hawke government had an incredible influence on Australia and on me personally. As others have noted, the Hawke government and then the Keating government governed right throughout my teenage years. Quite apart from some of the individual achievements which were delivered, which I'll mention shortly, what that meant, having that government in power for all of my teenage years, was that I grew up thinking that long-term federal Labor governments were the natural order of things. Sadly, both recent events and older history show that that is not necessarily the case, but I sincerely hope to see that change and to see federal Labor again become the natural order of things when it comes to federal governments.

Beyond me personally, I truly think that the government of Bob Hawke and then Paul Keating really did shape the thinking of my generation, Generation X Australians, and their expectations of what governments can do; what they will do; how they will act; and how they will treat all in our community with fairness, with kindness, with respect for the people's intelligence and with consideration for both the positive and negative aspects of change and the need to provide for those who do not benefit from change that is introduced by governments. Overall, I think my enduring memory of the Hawke government and its achievements was that that was a government that really made you proud to be Australian.

Now, for all of that, I have to admit that, through the Hawke-Keating governments, I was probably more a Keating man than a Hawke man. That was probably just a reflection of the angry young man that I was—and some may say the angry middle-aged man that I have become.

Senator Bilyk interjecting—

A grumpy old man in training, as Senator Bilyk says. I was more attracted to the fight and the passion and the arguments and the invective of Paul Keating at the time, but I have to say that the older I get the more I appreciate the strengths of Bob Hawke and what he brought to his government, and the incredible personal contribution that he made as that government's leader. It was his heart, his raw intellect, his intuitive grasp of what the Australian people wanted and cared for, and, more than anything, his ability to bring warring tribes together to achieve the common good. Whether it be employers and unions, whether it be farmers and environmentalists and First Nations people, he had an uncanny ability to find common ground and bring people with him to shape big, positive change for the community. I think that skill is something that, obviously, all of us in this place can learn from.

That was, to me, the major contribution that Bob made, aside from any of the individual achievements: his incredible ability to bring the Australian people with him, which is recognised in the number of election wins that he was able to deliver for Labor and for the Australian people. That was based on a real hallmark of his government, being his constant engagement with the public and the peak bodies that represent parts of our community. That was the secret to his electoral success and for the enduring nature of the change that he delivered. Because it's one thing for a government to bring in a change; it's another thing for a government to bring in a change that future governments of different political persuasions simply cannot abolish, because they have become so embedded in the national psyche and in what Australians expect of their governments.

I have mentioned in passing that Bob and his government did record many achievements, and I might just briefly reflect on a couple of those: the introduction of Medicare after the abolition of Medibank by the Fraser-Howard government; the incredible economic reforms brought in by Bob's government, laying the foundations for prosperity in what is now our 28th consecutive year of economic growth; the introduction of the social wage, delivered in partnership with the business community and trade unions; and, most prominently, the implementation and creation of a world-leading superannuation regime, of which we are all still immensely proud.

A number of speakers have reflected on the incredible environmental achievements of the Hawke government: the protection of Kakadu, Antarctica and, in my home state of Queensland, protection of the Daintree rainforest and the expansion of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Senator Dodson spoke very positively of Bob Hawke's achievements in relation to our First Nations people—in particular, the Barunga Statement and floating the concept of the need for a treaty, which remains unfinished business for all of us in this place and across Australia.

Bob led incredible engagement with Asia, which was most manifest in his leading and development of APEC, an Asia-Pacific trading partnership. He fought racism on the world stage by taking the side of Nelson Mandela and his people against the racist apartheid regime of South Africa. He led incredible advancements for women in Australia. And, of course, none of us can forget the statement he made in granting permanent residency to Chinese students after the dreadful Tiananmen Square massacre.

The thing I want to focus on, though, which I don't think is commented upon as much as it should be, is the achievements of the Hawke government in the education sphere. Senator Chisholm mentioned the incredible role the Hawke government played in expanding university opportunities for working-class kids right across Australia. That, along with the investment in vocational education and training, really did provide a huge opportunity to so many Australians who hadn't previously had them.

But the Hawke government did more than just invest in people once they had left school; they did an incredible job in ensuring that more Australian kids remained at school for their full 12 years to set themselves up for life. In fact, in 1983, when Bob first came to office, Australia had one of the lowest high school retention rates in the developed world. In 1983, only 30 per cent of Australian kids completed year 12. By 1991, when Bob left office, that number had increased to 70 per cent, and it has obviously continued growing ever since. I have no doubt that that achievement—ensuring that more Australian kids, particularly those from working class and disadvantaged backgrounds, have the opportunity to stay at school and get a good-quality education—is another thing which has laid the groundwork for the economic success of Australia over the last 20-odd years.

I have listened to a lot of the speakers from across the parliament today. I think it says a lot about Bob that so many speakers today, regardless of their party affiliation, have claimed parts of Bob's legacy. But I can assure all of you that Bob was a Labor warrior and his achievements were truly Labor achievements of which we are all incredibly proud.

A number of people have also reflected on Bob's penchant for singing. Every time I saw Bob, one of Australia's most electorally successfully politicians, sing that great anthem of the Labor movement, 'Solidarity Forever'—and I joined with him in singing that—it was a reminder that you can be true to your Labor values and also be electorally successful. And that is what all of us who seek to form government are really here to achieve.

I will give one personal anecdote. I didn't know Bob as well as many others in this place did, but I saw Bob's passion for the Labor cause firsthand during my short-lived career as the member for Everton in the Queensland parliament. I had one term as a state member and, heading into my second election, I was sitting on the incredible margin of 1.4 per cent. I was part of a state Labor government that I'm sure Senator Scarr and Senator McGrath know it's fair to say had, by 2012, fallen well out of favour with the Queensland public. So, there I was, sitting on my 1.4 per cent margin, contemplating my future and facing almost certain defeat. But, despite that—and Senator Chisholm mentioned this as well—Bob did his Labor duty and came to campaign in my seat and in many other seats that, frankly, we were very unlikely to win.

In keeping with the gloomy prospects of the state Labor government at the time, the day that Bob came to campaign with me was an absolutely shocking day. It was pouring with rain and there was driving wind. It was one of those days when, even if you weren't a member of parliament about to lose his seat, you really just wanted to stay in bed and pull the doona up over you. But Bob did the right thing and he came to visit and came to do what he could. I remember driving between different campaign events—I think it was between the Gaythorne RSL and the Arana Leagues Club—and Bob turned around in the seat and asked me, 'So, young fella, what's the margin out here? What are your chances?' and I said, 'One point four per cent, Bob.' His reaction was simply, 'Oh,' so the conversation stopped there. If someone as electorally successful as Bob Hawke reacted like that, you knew that you really didn't have much of a chance. Nevertheless, Bob worked his magic that day, I noticed, especially with the older women who were in the Arana Leagues Club coming down for afternoon tea. They had a particular affection for Bob. It gave me and my supporters a huge morale boost to have Bob out there working with us. Just for that one moment, in what was otherwise a pretty disastrous campaign, we were able to think: 'You just never know.' Of course, it didn't work out that way.

The highlight of that particular day was when I did something which I later learned one never does with Bob: I challenged him to a beer-sculling competition in the Gaythorne RSL. I remember doing it with the then member for Ashgrove, Kate Jones, and the then Premier Anna Bligh. The worst thing about that, I subsequently learned, is that I had the temerity as a first-term state Labor MP to actually beat Bob in the sculling competition. Given his track record in Oxford and other places, I was pretty proud of myself. I remember turning to the camera which was filming us and saying, 'I just beat Bob Hawke!' Bob, sharp as a tack, turned around and said, 'Yeah, mate, but, weight for age, I was all over you!' Bob was always going to have the last laugh.

Bob's sense of humour was certainly brought to the fore at the magnificent memorial service that was held for Bob recently at the Sydney Opera House. There were two things that I took away from that day, being fortunate enough to attend. There was the incredibly diverse crowd that was present for Bob's memorial service. It again reflected the incredible range of achievements, in all aspects of life, that so many people from so many backgrounds came together. There were many representatives of First Nations people, there were environmentalists, there were peace activists, there were businesspeople, there were unionists, and there were just mums and dads and ordinary Australians there to express how much they appreciated Bob. I thought it spoke volumes of the man that so many different people from so many backgrounds thought they needed to be there that day to say their goodbyes. The other thing that I took from that memorial service was the number of times over the course of the day when the speeches made reference to love. Again, I think that really captured something that was at the heart of Bob, and that was that Bob Hawke truly loved Australia, he truly loved Australians and they, in return, loved Bob Hawke.

Bob, in closing, we loved you. We thank you. Condolences to your family for sharing you with us. Australia will be forever grateful.