Paul Keating
Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, from 1991 to 1996. He came to prominence as the reformist Treasurer in the Hawke government from 1983. As Prime Minister, he is noted for his many legislative achievements, and his victory in the 1993 federal election, which many had considered "unwinnable" for Labor, but also blamed for the early 1990s recession and its effects. Keating was defeated at the 1996 federal election by the Liberal/National coalition led by John Howard.
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 his high 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.[Civics | Paul Keating (1944–)]
Through the unions and the NSW Young Labor Council, Keating met other Labor figures such as Laurie Brereton, Graham Richardson and Bob Carr, and 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.[Former PM Paul Keating and historian Frank Cain discuss Jack Lang's life, legacy and the Depression.] 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, at the age of 25.
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; 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. [Keating's daughter called to testify - National - www.smh.com.au]
Keating's interests include collecting French antique clocks, and the music of Mahler.[ 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 Howard misled Parliament about the size of the budget deficit that had been left by the outgoing government.
Keating was soon acknowledged as the main instigator of 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 in trade tariffs, taxation reforms, changing 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 whence it was directly copied as the Goods and Services Tax or GST), an option seriously debated before being dropped by Hawke. The early 1990s recession, which Keating labelled "the recession we had to have",[Paul Keating - Chronology at australianpolitics.com] 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 Minster 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.
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 1991, Keating's government was involved in a diplomatic dispute with Malaysia, after the screening of the drama Embassy on Australian television. The drama depicted corruption in the fictitious Asian country of Ragaan, which Malaysia's Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad considered to be a thinly disguised swipe at Malaysia. Keating was forced to issue a formal apology to Malaysia to defuse the situation.
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.
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[Text of the "true believers" victory speech at Wikisource] [audio of the "true believers" victory speech] 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.[ 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,"[Fast Forward, Shaun Carney, The Age, 20-Nov-2007] 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.[The World Today - 5/10/99: Howard hits back at Keating over criticism; Australian Jewish Democratic Society - Rabin and East Timor; Microsoft Word - Alpheus Article Septembe#35.doc; ITV - John Pilger - A voice that shames those who are silent on Timor]
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,[For example ] including the Chairman (international) of Carnegie, Wylie & Company - a Sydney based investment bank.[ ]
A portrait of Keating was commissioned and now hangs in Parliament House, Canberra.[Government of Australia, "Parliamentary Education Office: FAQ 4.10 Parliamentary Art Collection", 2007. Accessed 25 June 2007.] In 2000, he published a book, Engagement: Australia Faces the Asia-Pacific, which focused on foreign policy during his term as Prime Minister.[Books in Print] 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.
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[Paul Keating - Saxton Speaker Bureau - Speaker Details]
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.
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).[Lateline, 7-Jun-2007, Also on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=SgUPvGN5mSo&feature=related http://youtube.com/watch?v=VsC6IZuP5F4&feature=related http://youtube.com/watch?v=61ElEVaEuOM&feature=related ]
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.
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.[Video of speech, part 1Video of speech, part 2]
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
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
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