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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Naaman Zhou

Bob Hawke: tributes flow after death of former Australian PM – as it happened

Summary

Tributes have poured in for Bob Hawke, and they will do so for the days to come. Everyone from ordinary Australians to former prime ministers have laid their wreaths at the foot of his memory, after it was announced by his wife Blanche d’Alpuget that he had died peacefully tonight.

He has been remembered for his staunch anti-racism, his long-lasting environmental policies, his economic reforms and his social conscience. A man Bob Brown credited with “the best environmental record of any PM since federation”, who Barrie Cassidy said helped drive the “dagger to the heart of apartheid”, and who let the students stay after Tiananmen Square.

Scott Morrison, Bill Shorten, all living former prime ministers, and his successors at the ACTU all gave their thanks. “The greatest peacetime leader Australia has ever had” said Julia Gillard. He worked to “bridge the gap between black and white”, said Galarrwuy Yunupingu.

His treasurer and political partner Paul Keating said he “understood that imagination was central to policy-making and never lacked the courage to do what had to be done.” And in the words of Blanche d’Alpuget, he was “the greatest Australian of the post-war era.” “We will miss him. The golden bowl is broken.”

And this call:

Some incredible personal memories of Hawke appearing as well. Like this letter:

Front page round up. SMH: “The fearless reformer.” The West Australian: “Here’s to Bob.” The Australian: “From Larrikin to Legend.” Daily Telegraph: “Larrikin. Leader. Legend.”

Bob Hawke and Blanche d’Alpuget voting yes in the same-sex marriage postal survey in 2017:

Vision of Hawke’s speech after Tiananmen Square in 1989

Former UK prime minister Tony Blair:

Bob Hawke was a huge figure and someone I deeply admired, liked and learned from, a genuine giant in anyone’s politics.

He was an immensely successful leader of Australia but he also impacted all of us round the world who were looking for a sustainable model of government which combined strong economies with high levels of social justice and investment in the most disadvantaged sections of society.

Sharp, with a marvellous strategic political mind, and concealing a first class intellect behind that friendly and ‘good bloke’ exterior, he was wonderful and warm company, and from the first time I met him back in 1982 always willing to reach out and help younger politicians. A true model for so many of us. He will be greatly missed.

Updated

More on Hawke’s dedication to anti-racism:

And perhaps the most keenly anticipated tribute of them all, from John Bertrand – who won the America’s Cup in 1983.

On the famous Hawke quote about any employer not giving workers the day off being “a bum”, he says it was “typical of Bob Hawke’s ability to seize the moment.”

“That was a perfect thing to say...Years later Bob would often say that of all the great things he achieved..people would always remind him of that.”

As many may have noticed on Twitter, there has been a strong backlash to Tony Abbott’s tribute to Hawke, which claimed that the former PM “had a Liberal head” and “went against the Labor grain”.

Bob Brown: "The best environmental record of any PM since Federation"

More from Greens founder Bob Brown, who just spoke over the phone to the ABC:

We’ve lost a great PM, who notched up the best environmental record of any PM since federation.

He began with the saving of the Franklin River. He went to the election in 1983 saying that he would stop the dam if elected ... And after a battle through the High Court he did just that.

Then he went on of course to have a brace of other great places from Uluru to the Daintree, Shark Bay and more, inscribed in the World Heritage list. He added more of Kakadu and forests in northern New South Wales. And then took a role with Paul Keating in leading the protection of Antarctica through the Madrid Protocol in 1997.

“He took on Joh Bjelke-Petersen over the Daintree Rainforests in North Queensland and using the World Heritage power, he protected the rainforests which were about to be ripped to bits by real estate exploitation and so on...And Hawke empowered [environment minister] Graeme Richardson in a way we’ve never seen before or since to protect Australia’s environment. And I think that will be an enormous legacy for which Australians will be thanking him as PM for centuries to come.”

Updated

Former treasurer Joe Hockey:

More front pages:

More tributes from current Labor MPs and senators. Penny Wong:

Kristina Keneally:

Tony Burke:

John Ah Kit: "He had a special relationship with the Katherine that transcended the mere fact of being PM"

John Ah Kit was Director of the Northern Land Council (NLC) when Aboriginal leaders of the NT presented Bob Hawke with the Barunga statement, on Jawoyn country east of Katherine in 1988.

The Barunga statement was an historic declaration of demands and aspirations – carefully-worded, hand-crafted, painted and written on a bark – and presented by the chair of the NLC, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, and the chairm of the Central Land Council, Wenten Rubuntja.

A beaming Bob Hawke co-signed the statement and set a deadline for a treaty as the end of 1990, but a major obstacle was the increasingly strident and dramatic statements of hard-right politicians in the Liberal party, in particular the president, John Elliott and Opposition leader, John Howard.

John Ah Kit met Bob Hawke again in 1991, while fighting to stop uranium mining at Guratba – the Jawoyn name for Coronation Hill.

Hawke refused to allow the mine to go ahead and override the deeply held religious beliefs of the Jawoyn traditional owners. It was a decision which he later said cost him the prime ministership.

John Ah Kit told Guardian Australia Hawke was a “remarkable man.”

Bob was a legend in his own right, but he had a special relationship with the Katherine region that in some ways transcended, for us, the mere fact of being a prime minister.

Back in ’88, the 200th anniversary of the Invasion, he was more than willing to come to the Barunga Festival in June that year and talk to the land councils at that historical event.

And he listened to us, he was patient and listened to us. He clearly wanted to do something which is why he was happy to sign the Barunga Statement which called for a Treaty. There was no doubt about his genuineness.

As history tells us, of course, he could not muster support in his party at the time to pursue the goal of a Treaty. That’s something we are still waiting for, four decades later.

But it was over the issue of Guratba—the Jawoyn name for Coronation Hill—a time when the mining companies were bashing us at a hundred miles an hour, that he stood firm by the custodians of that country. He believed those old men and refused to back away. He and Gerry Hand pushed for the protection of the Sickness Country of which Guratba was a focus. Guratba was saved.

I heard an interview with him much later when he said that Coronation Hill was the thing that brought him down, but Bob stood by us.

And on his last day in office, he welcomed Jawoyn and other Aboriginal people to the official hanging of the Barunga Statement in Parliament House. To me, that was a symbol of his legacy to us as Aboriginal people.

John Ah Kit later served as the first Aboriginal minister, in the Northern Territory Labor government.

This portrait, of Hawke enjoying a strawberry milkshake, is fast becoming one of the favourite photo tributes to the PM.

Taken in 2017 by Harold David, it won the National Photographic Portrait Prize that year.

Says David: “All the planning in the world went out the window the moment Bob Hawke walked into the room, sipping through a pink straw....a take-away cup, a glint in the eyes, a life well-lived.”

Updated

Malcolm Turnbull: "Australia is a better place because of him"

Former PM Malcolm Turnbull has tweeted his condolences:

As has former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce:

Galarrwuy Yunupingu: "We will remember him fondly, a smile on his face"

Gumatj leader and Yothu Yindi Foundation chair Galarrwuy Yunupingu worked with Hawke towards an Indigenous treaty, and presented him with the Barunga statement in 1988.

In a statement, he expressed his “deep sorrow” at Hawke’s passing.

Mr Hawke was a very popular leader, and a friend of the Yolngu people.

His efforts to bridge the gap between black and white Australia were always sincere, and continued after the end of his prime ministership.

We did not achieve all that was set out in the Barunga Statement, but it remains in parliament, and we continue to pursue its aspirations.

We will remember Mr Hawke fondly, a smile on his face.

I send my sincere condolences to his family on this sad occasion.

Julia Gillard: "The greatest peacetime leader Australia had"

Former PM Julia Gillard: “Without question, Bob was the greatest peacetime leader Australia has ever had. And up to his very last days, he remained both an inspiration and a friend.

“In many ways the true measure of Bob’s incredible ability is that he made the difficult look easy. Now more than thirty years after he smashed an old model and remade a country, everyone thinks they supported him at the time.

“I will never forget his passion and and generosity in launching my campaign in Brisbane in 2010....Today is a very sad day for me, for Bob’s many friends, for the nation. But it’s an especially sad day for Blanche and for his children and grandchildren. My thoughts go to them now and in coming days.”

Tomorrow evening there will be a celebration of Hawke’s life at Victorian Trades Hall

And another tribute from Bob Brown, who says tonight’s aurora australis is “Antarctica beaming back its thanks for Bob Hawke”.

Scott Morrison is speaking now, on the tarmac, holding an umbrella in the pouring rain:

His achievements will be spoken of in the days ahead, but the thing Australians will remember most about him was the bloke. He made Australia stronger, through his contribution to public life.

He had enormous passion and he had courage. And that was able to sustain him in being the longest serving Labor PM of all time. It was his ability to connect with everyday Australians with a word, with that larrikin wit, with that connection and understanding and everyday Australian life that we will most remember Bob Hawke.

It was Hawke who changed our national anthem to say ‘Australians all let us rejoice’, and tonight, while I’m sure I extend to the labour movement and to Bill Shorten and his party, my deep sympathies on behalf of our political movement, I think we can all say as Australians all, that we rejoice in the life of Bob Hawke.

We thank him for his service to our nation and we pray now that he rest in peace. Thank you, Bob.

Updated

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews:

More than any other, Bob Hawke was the people’s prime minister. Australians saw themselves in him, and he saw himself in us. The son of a school teacher and a minister, he grew up in the most ordinary of circumstance.

And yet that boy from Bordertown would leave us with the most extraordinary legacy. In the coming days, that legacy will be remembered in a multitude of different ways.

Rhodes Scholar. Yard Drinker. Staunch Unionist. Member for Wills. Labor’s longest serving Prime Minister.

But for so many in our movement, he was and will always be the father of Medicare. The man who made sure that most fundamental right - healthcare - was afforded to every Australian. The man who created the foundation of fairness on which our modern nation was built.”

Updated

The front pages tomorrow will all be tributes. The NT News starts us off with this:

Scott Morrison will be speaking soon in Brisbane.

In the meantime, read this obituary of the former PM from political editor Katharine Murphy:

Updated

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek:

And the UK’s Labour deputy, Tom Watson, is paying tribute from halfway around the world:

Updated

Political to the last, the final letter Hawke wrote was about voting for Labor in Saturday’s election.

Two weeks earlier, he also co-wrote a letter with Keating on the same theme. The two publicly reunited for the first time since 1991, sat and had a cup of tea.

This is the last public photograph of Hawke, from Monday.

Updated

Scott Morrison: "An intellectual horsepower that made our country stronger"

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has released his statement:

Updated

More tributes:

From ACTU secretary Sally McManus and president Michele O’Neil:

“As a leader of our nation and of our movement, Bob was a hero to working people – an architect of the accords, the father of Medicare, and a founder of universal superannuation.

“The Australian union movement has enormous pride that a great and respected representative of working people and ACTU president went on to become a loved and legendary Australian prime minister.

“Millions of working people owe their health, their prosperity and their dignity in retirement to Bob’s work.

“The entire union family is grieving as are all Australians. We will never forget him.

“Solidarity and Vale Bob Hawke”.

From former PM Tony Abbott:

Updated

Bill Shorten: "He had the sun on his face, a crossword in front of him"

Bill Shorten is speaking now in Sydney, sharing the story of his last meeting with Hawke.

Tonight the nation and Labor are in mourning. We have lost a favourite son. Bob Hawke loved Australia and Australia loved Bob Hawke.

His legacy will endure forever. Bob Hawke changed Australia for the better.

He brought people together, he brought Australia together, he modernised our economy, he transformed our society, he protected our environment.

I last had the privilege of seeing Bob last week. On his back verandah, sitting out there with his beloved Blanche, supported by Craig [Emerson]. He had the sun on his face, a crossword in front of him, a cup of tea. He didn’t speak about himself to me.

He did, as he always does, asked about the ALP and the election. We all loved Bob Hawke. We’ll miss him a great deal. May he rest in peace.”

Updated

In Sydney, Bill Shorten will be giving a speech in tribute to Hawke soon.

Right now, former Labor minister Craig Emerson is there reading from Blanche D’Alpuget’s statement.

Updated

Cassidy: “John Howard once said that no politician is popular forever. He described that as one of the great ironies of politics. I think Bob Hawke disproved that.

“People felt that, if they saw him at the football, in the races or in the street, they could say, ‘G’day Bob’ and feel they weren’t going to be shunned in any way.

“[His friend] Col Cunningham once said that they say that beer destroys the brain. Well, Bob Hawke disproved that.”

The ABC’s Barrie Cassidy, who worked as Hawke’s press secretary from 1986 to 1991, is speaking now on TV.

I tell you what most impressed me about him. He wouldn’t cop racism. He just wouldn’t cop it at any level. At the very whiff of it, he’d be right on to it.

When he worked with the ACTU, he led the campaign against the Springboks tour over apartheid. When he became prime minister he organised sanctions against South Africans. Years later, the foreign minister of South Africa said that was the dagger at the heart of apartheid. That’s what BobHawke did. He took it on.

There was the time when John Howard raised the issue of not just lowering immigration but reducing specifically Asian immigration. People got together in his office, he said, ‘I’m taking this on. I’m going to go into parliament and challenge this.’”

Updated

Paul Keating: "He never lacked the courage to do what had to be done"

Paul Keating, Hawke’s treasurer, successor as prime minister, and political partner for much of their careers, has issued this statement:

With Bob Hawke’s passing today, the great partnership I enjoyed with him passes too. A partnership we forged with the Australian people. But what remains and what will endure from that partnership are the monumental foundations of modern Australia.

Bob, of course, was hoping for a Labor victory this weekend. His friends too, were hoping he would see this.

Bob possessed a moral framework for his important public life, both representing the workers of Australia and more broadly, the country at large. He understood that imagination was central to policy-making and never lacked the courage to do what had to be done to turn that imagination into reality.

And that reality was the reformation of Australia’s economy and society and its place in the world.

No one will miss Bob more than his wife, Blanche, who very sweetly, attended his every need, particularly in these later years.

His children, Susan, Stephen and Rosslyn loved their father and were deeply committed to the precepts of his public life. Bob’s death will be an enormous loss to them and their children, of whom he was eternally proud.

The country is much the poorer for Bob Hawke’s passing.”

Updated

Susan Ryan, Labor’s first female minister and minister for women in the Hawke cabinet: “It was a great relief, as a young woman, a feminist with clear feminist objectives, to work with a man who was relaxed about women.”

Updated

The ABC is airing interviews with Hawke’s colleagues – recorded previously.

Former Labor leader and Hawke cabinet minister Kim Beazley: “He wanted to be prime minister, but he wanted to be prime minister for a purpose ... Politicians these days are not big risk takers. He was.”

Greens founder Bob Brown spoke on Hawke’s involvement in the Franklin dam protests, commonly seen as the birthplace of the Greens.

“They were very heavy years for environmentalism,” Brown says. “And Bob Hawke was the captain of the ship.”

Updated

In 2018, the ABC broadcast a two-part series about Hawke, called The Larrikin and the Leader. Gay Alcorn wrote on it here:

From the current ACTU secretary Sally McManus:

Updated

The ABC’s 7.30 is airing a tribute to Hawke – moments after running the final campaign interviews with Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten.

The opening song is, fittingly, Men At Work’s Down Under.

Last year, the program also spoke to Blanche D’Alpuget about her discussions with the former PM about his life and legacy.

Updated

And here is Bob Hawke’s life in pictures – from the hustings of his first campaign for his seat of Wills in 1980, to his marriage to Blanche D’Alpuget in 1995, to him enjoying a glass of Hawke’s Lager in 2017, all smiles.

Politicians and former colleagues across the country are paying tribute to Hawke tonight.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd:

Labor MP Terri Butler:

And surely many more to come.

Updated

Labor leader Bill Shorten has also paid tribute:

The Australian people loved Bob Hawke because they knew Bob loved them, this was true to the very end,” he said in a statement.

With his passing, the labour movement salutes our greatest son, the Labor Party gives thanks for the life of our longest-serving Prime Minister and Australians everywhere remember and honour a man who gave so much to the country and people he cared for so deeply.

We will remember and revisit the images we know so well: Bob with microphone or megaphone in one hand, the other moving in time with his words, rallying, inspiring and delighting a crowd.

Bob with head cocked, one hand grasping his earlobe, listening respectfully to an Aboriginal elder, a captain of industry, laughing with an American president or charming a local parent out doing their shopping ... Or in that iconic jacket, mouth open with laughter, dodging the beer and champagne, giving his Prime Ministerial blessing to a national sickie.

Every Australian carries a monument to Bob Hawke with them, their Medicare card. A green-and-gold promise that the health of any one of us, matters to all of us.

He knew he was loved, right to the end. We honour him. We will remember him. In solidarity, forever. May he rest in peace.”

Updated

Blanche d’Alpuget: “The golden bowl is broken.”

Hawke died peacefully in his Sydney home, and a public memorial service will be held in the coming weeks, his wife Blanche d’Alpuget said in a statement.

Today we lost Bob Hawke, a great Australian – many would say the greatest Australian of the post-war era,” d’Alpuget said.

I and Bob’s children, Sue, Stephen, Rosslyn and stepson, Louis, and his grandchildren, will hold a private funeral. A memorial service will be held in Sydney in coming weeks.

Among his proudest achievements were large increases in the proportion of children finishing high school, his role in ending apartheid in South Africa, and his successful international campaign to protect Antarctica from mining.

He abhorred racism and bigotry. His father, the Reverend Clem Hawke, told Bob that if you believed in the Fatherhood of God then you must also believe in the Brotherhood of Man. Bob would add today the Sisterhood of Women.

Bob was dearly loved by his family, and so many friends and colleagues. We will miss him.

The golden bowl is broken.”

Updated

Bob Hawke, Australia’s longest serving Labor prime minister and a popular figure even into his old age, has died.

Hawke led the Labor party to victory in four consecutive elections from 1983, leading a transformative period in Australia during which the government established Medicare, Landcare and superannuation schemes, deregulated the financial industry and floated the Australian dollar. He set up the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, and investigated but never managed a treaty with Indigenous Australia.

He served until he was ousted from the leadership by his then treasurer, Paul Keating, in 1991.

The former union official was elected to federal parliament in 1980 as the MP for Wills in Victoria. He successfully challenged for the Labor leadership on 3 February 1983, 20 minutes after prime minister Malcolm Fraser called a federal election.

He was considered a charismatic and forthright politician, with an upfront and unscripted manner, a renowned drinker in his early years, brutally honest if not always likeable.

Updated

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