Paul Keating

The Honourable  Paul Keating  LLD (hc, KU) LLD (hc, US) LLD (hc, UNSW)
Bust of Paul Keating by political cartoonist, caricaturist and sculptor Peter Nicholson located in the Prime Minister's Avenue in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens
24th Prime Minister of Australia Elections: 1993, 1996
In office 20 December 1991 – 11 March 1996
Deputy	Brian Howe Kim Beazley
Preceded by	Bob Hawke
Succeeded by	John Howard
Constituency	Blaxland (New South Wales)
30th Treasurer of Australia
In office 11 March 1983 – 3 June 1991
Preceded by	John Howard
Succeeded by	Bob Hawke
Member of the Australian Parliament for Blaxland
In office 25 October 1969 – 15 June 1996
Preceded by	James Harrison
Succeeded by	Michael Hatton
Born	18 January 1944 (1944-01-18) (age 65) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Occupation	Trade union staffer
Religion	Roman Catholic

Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia. He came to prominence as the reformist Treasurer in the Hawke government from 1983. He became prime minister in 1991 and led the Labor to victory in the 1993 federal election, which many had considered "unwinnable" for Labor, due to the effects that the early 1990s recession had on Australia. The Labor Party was defeated at the 1996 federal election by the Liberal/National coalition led by John Howard.

Contents 1 Early and personal life 2 Treasurer: 1983-1991 3 Prime Minister: 1991–1996 4 Defeat 5 After politics 6 See also 7 Further reading 8 References 9 External links

Early and personal life

Keating grew up in Bankstown, a working-class suburb of Sydney. He was one of four children of Matthew Keating, a boilermaker and trade union representative of Irish-Catholic descent, and his wife, Minnie. In his high school years Keating was an avid member of the school band, the "Junip Pies". Keating was educated at Catholic schools; he was the first practising Catholic Labor prime minister since James Scullin left office in 1932. Leaving De La Salle College Bankstown (now LaSalle Catholic College) at 15, Keating worked as a clerk and then as a research assistant for a trade union. He joined the Labor Party as soon as he was eligible. In 1966, he became president of the ALP’s Youth Council.^[1]

Through the unions and the NSW Young Labor Council, Keating met other Labor figures such as Laurie Brereton, Graham Richardson and Bob Carr. He also developed a friendship with former New South Wales Labor premier Jack Lang, then in his 90s. Keating met Lang to discuss politics on a weekly basis for some time and, in 1971, succeeded in having Lang re-admitted to the Labor Party.^[2] Using his extensive contacts Keating gained Labor endorsement for the federal seat of Blaxland in the western suburbs of Sydney and was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1969 election when he was 25 years of age.^[1]

Keating was a backbencher for most of the tenure of the Whitlam Labor government (December 1972 – November 1975), and briefly became Minister for Northern Australia in October 1975. After Labor's defeat in 1975, Keating became an opposition frontbencher and, in 1981, he became president of the New South Wales branch of the party and thus leader of the dominant right-wing faction. As opposition spokesperson on energy his parliamentary style was that of an aggressive debater. He initially supported Bill Hayden against Bob Hawke's leadership challenges, partly because he hoped to succeed Hayden himself;fact but by the end of 1982, he accepted that Hawke would become leader.

In 1975, Keating married Annita van Iersel, a Dutch flight attendant for Alitalia. The Keatings had four children, who spent some of their teenage years in the Lodge, the Prime Minister's official residence in Canberra. They separated in late November 1998. Keating's daughter, Katherine, was a former adviser to former New South Wales minister Craig Knowles. ^[3]

Keating's interests include collecting French antique clocks and the music of Mahler.^[1] Keating is a resident of Potts Point, Sydney.

Treasurer: 1983-1991

Following the Labor Party's victory in the March 1983 election, Keating was appointed Treasurer, a post he held until 1991. Keating succeeded John Howard as treasurer and alleged that Howard misled parliament about the size of the budget deficit that had been left by the outgoing government.

Keating was one of the driving forces behind the economic reforms of the Hawke government. The Hawke/Keating governments of 1983 to 1996 pursued economic policies and restructuring such as floating the Australian Dollar in 1983, reducing tariffs on imports, taxation reforms, moving from centralised wage-fixing to enterprise bargaining, privatisation of publicly-owned companies such as Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank, and deregulation of the banking system. In 1985, Keating proposed the introduction of a value-added tax (known in Australia, New Zealand and Canada as the Goods and Services Tax or GST), which was debated by the Party before being dropped by Hawke. The early 1990s recession, which Keating labelled "the recession we had to have",^[4] resulted in significant increase in support for the Liberal party, which Keating used in his push for the Labor party leadership.

Keating's tenure as Treasurer and Prime Minister is often criticised for the high interest rates experienced, including home mortgage rates that reached 17%, and the 1990s recession. During the subsequent Howard Government (1996 to 2007), Keating often criticised Howard for taking credit over the relatively good economic conditions Australia has experienced over the latter half of Howard's time as Prime Minister.^[5] Keating had also often re-stated his disapproval that Labor since 1996 had not pursued the Liberal government on the economy.

At a 1988 meeting at Kirribilli House, Hawke and Keating discussed the handover of the leadership to Keating. Hawke confidentially agreed in front of two witnesses that after the 1990 election, he would resign in Keating's favour. In June 1991, after Hawke had intimated to Keating that he planned to renege on the deal on the basis that Keating had been publicly disloyal and moreover was less popular than Hawke, Keating challenged him for the leadership. He lost, resigned as Treasurer, and publicly declared his leadership ambitions had ended. Throughout the rest of 1991, the position of the Hawke government deteriorated under pressure from the recent recession, sniping from Keating supporters, and from Opposition attacks. In December 1991, Keating defeated Hawke in a second leadership challenge, and became Prime Minister.

Prime Minister: 1991–1996

In 1992, Keating caused outrage in the British tabloid press, who dubbed him "The Lizard of Oz" after he placed his arm around Queen Elizabeth II.^[6]

Most commentators believed the 1993 election was "unwinnable" for Labor; the government had been in power for 10 years, the pace of economic recovery was slow, and there was an electorate perception of Keating as arrogant. However, Keating succeeded in winning back the electorate with a strong campaign opposing Fightback, memorable for Keating's reference to Hewson's proposed GST as "15% on this, 15% on that", and a focus on creating jobs to reduce unemployment. Keating led Labor to an unexpected election victory, and his "true believers" victory speech^{[7] [8]} has entered Australian political folklore as one of the great Australian political speeches. After Keating, some of the reforms of Fightback were implemented under the centre-right coalition government of John Howard, such as the GST.

In December, 1993, Keating was involved in a second diplomatic incident with Malaysia, over Keating's description of Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad as "recalcitrant". The incident occurred after Dr Mahathir refused to attend the 1993 APEC summit. Keating said, "APEC is bigger than all of us - Australia, the U.S. and Malaysia and Dr. Mahathir and any other recalcitrants." Dr Mahathir demanded an apology from Keating, and threatened to reduce diplomatic and trade ties with Australia, which became an enormous concern to Australian exporters. Some Malaysian officials talked of launching a "Buy Australian Last" campaign.^[9] Keating eventually apologised to Mahathir over the remark.

Keating's agenda included making Australia a republic, reconciliation with Australia's indigenous population, and furthering economic and cultural ties with Asia. These issues, which came to be known as Keating's "big picture,"^[10] were popular with the tertiary-educated middle class. Keating's embarked legislative program included establishing the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA), a review of the Sex Discrimination Act, and native title rights of Australia's indigenous peoples following the "Mabo" High Court decision. He developed bilateral links with Australia's neighbours, primarily Australia’s largest neighbour Indonesia, and took an active role in the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), initiating the annual leaders' meeting. One of Keating's far-reaching legislative achievements was the introduction of a national superannuation scheme, implemented to address low national savings.

Paul Keating's friendship with Indonesian President Suharto was criticised by Human Rights activists supportive of East Timorese independence and by Nobel Peace Prize winner, José Ramos-Horta (later that country's Prime Minister and President of that country). The Keating government's cooperation with the Indonesian military and the signing of the Timor Gap Treaty were also criticised.^[11]

Defeat

Liberal Party leadership issues assisted Keating during 1993 and 1994. Questions over Hewson's leadership led to him being replaced as Liberal leader by Alexander Downer in 1994. But Downer's leadership was marred by gaffes, and he was replaced by John Howard in 1995. Under Howard, the Coalition moved ahead of Labor in opinion polls and Keating was unable to wrest back the lead. A warning sign for Labor was the loss of a by-election in the seat of Canberra in 1995. Howard, determined to avoid a repeat of the 1993 election, adopted a "small target" strategy - committing to keep Labor reforms such as Medicare, and defusing the republic issue by promising to hold a constitutional convention. This allowed Howard to focus the election on the economy (which was in recovery but still somewhat lacking after the early 1990s recession) and the longevity of the Labor government, which had been in power now for 13 years.

In the election held in March 1996, the Keating Government was defeated by the Coalition who scored a 29-seat swing. Keating immediately resigned as Labor Party leader and resigned from Parliament a little over a month later on 23 April 1996.

After politics

Since leaving parliament, Keating has been a director of various companies,^[12] including the Chairman (international) of Carnegie, Wylie & Company - a Sydney based investment bank.^[13]

A portrait of Keating was commissioned and now hangs in Parliament House, Canberra.^[14] In 2000, he published a book, Engagement: Australia Faces the Asia-Pacific, which focused on foreign policy during his term as Prime Minister.^[15] In March 2002, a Don Watson-authored biography of Keating, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, was released and has sold over 50,000 copies. It has been awarded the The Age Book of the Year and Best Non-fiction book, The Courier-Mail Book of the Year and the National Biography Award.

During Howard's Prime Ministership, Keating made occasional speeches strongly criticising his successor's social policies, and defending his own policies, such as those on East Timor. Keating described Howard as a "desiccated coconut" who was "araldited to the seat" and that "Howard ... is an old antediluvian 19th century person who wanted to stomp forever ... on ordinary people's rights to organise themselves at work ... he's a pre-Copernican obscurantist", when criticising the Howard government's WorkChoices policy.^[16] He described Howard's deputy, Federal Treasurer Peter Costello, as being "all tip and no iceberg" when referring to a pact made by Howard to hand the premiership to Costello after two terms.^[17] On Labor's victory at the Australian Federal Election, 2007, Keating said that he was relieved, rather than happy, that the Howard Government had been removed. He claimed that there was "Relief that the nation had put itself back on course. Relief that the toxicity of the Liberal social agenda – the active disparagement of particular classes and groups, that feeling of alienation in your own country – was over."^[18]

He is currently a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the University of New South Wales. He has been awarded honorary Doctorates in Laws from Keio University in Tokyo, the National University of Singapore, and the University of New South Wales^[19]

In May 2007, Keating suggested that Sydney should be the capital of Australia, not Canberra saying that:

John Howard has already effectively moved the Parliament here. Cabinet meets in Philip Street in Sydney, and when they do go to Canberra, they fly down to the bush capital, and everybody flies out on Friday. There is an air of unreality about Canberra. If Parliament sat in Sydney, they would have a better understanding of the problems being faced by their constituents. These real things are camouflaged from Canberra.^[20]

Keating was critical of former Opposition Leader (now Prime Minister) Kevin Rudd's leadership team. For example, before the 2007 federal election, which Labor won, he criticised the then-Opposition industrial relations spokesperson, Julia Gillard, saying she lacked an understanding of principles such as enterprise bargaining set under his government in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He also attacked Rudd's chief of staff David Epstein and Gary Gray, who was at that time a candidate for the former Labor leader Kim Beazley's seat of Brand (he won the seat).^[21]

In February 2008, Keating joined former Prime Ministers Whitlam, Fraser and Hawke in Parliament House, Canberra, to witness the parliamentary apology to the Stolen Generations.^[22]

In August 2008, he spoke at the book launch of "Unfinished Business: Paul Keating's Interrupted Revolution", authored by economist David Love. Among the topics discussed during the launch were the need to increase compulsory superannuation contributions, as well as to restore incentives (removed under Howard/Costello) for people to receive their superannuation payments in annuities.^[23]

See also

• First Keating Ministry
• Second Keating Ministry
• Redfern Park Speech
• Keating! the musical

Further reading

• Edna Carew, Paul Keating Prime Minister, Allen and Unwin, 1991
• Paul Keating, Advancing Australia, Big Picture, 1995
• Michael Gordon, A True Believer: Paul Keating, UQP, 1996
• John Edwards, Keating: The Inside Story, Viking, 1996
• Don Watson, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating, Knopf, 2002
• David Love, Unfinished Business: Paul Keating's interrupted revolution, Scribe, 2008

References

External links

• Keating's personal website
• Meet a PM - National Archives of Australia
• Paul Keating Insults Archive
• Paul Keating at the National Film and Sound Archive
• Video - Paul Keating vs John Hewson
• Video - Re: The Great Motion
• Video - Floating the dollar
• Video - Paul Keating on the changes to the Australian economy, 1980-2008, on SlowTV

Political offices
Preceded by Rex Patterson	Minister for Northern Australia 1975	Succeeded by Ian Sinclair
Preceded by John Howard	Treasurer of Australia 1983 – 1991	Succeeded by Bob Hawke
Preceded by Lionel Bowen	Deputy Prime Minister of Australia 1990 – 1991	Succeeded by Brian Howe
Preceded by Bob Hawke	Prime Minister of Australia 1991 – 1996	Succeeded by John Howard
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by E.J. (Jim) Harrison	Member for Blaxland 1969 – 1996	Succeeded by Michael Hatton
Party political offices
Preceded by Lionel Bowen	Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party 1990 – 1991	Succeeded by Brian Howe
Preceded by Bob Hawke	Leader of the Australian Labor Party 1991 – 1996	Succeeded by Kim Beazley

Prime Ministers of Australia Barton · Deakin · Watson · Reid · Deakin · Fisher · Deakin · Fisher · Cook · Fisher · Hughes · Bruce · Scullin · Lyons · Page · Menzies · Fadden · Curtin · Forde · Chifley · Menzies · Holt · McEwen · Gorton · McMahon · Whitlam · Fraser · Hawke · Keating · Howard · Rudd

Leaders of the Australian Labor Party Watson · Fisher · Hughes · Tudor · Charlton · Scullin · Curtin · Chifley · Evatt · Calwell · Whitlam · Hayden · Hawke · Keating · Beazley · Crean · Latham · Beazley · Rudd

Persondata
NAME	Keating, Paul John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Prime Minister of Australia
DATE OF BIRTH	18 January 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH	Sydney, Australia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH