Paul Keating

Paul John Keating, born 18 January 1944 was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election. After becoming prime minister in 1991, he led Labor to its fifth consecutive victory at the 1993 election against the Liberal/National coalition led by John Hewson. Many had considered this election unwinnable for Labor, mainly due to the effects that the early 1990s recession had on Australia, as well as the longevity of Labor as the federal government. However, the Labor government was decisively defeated at the 1996 election by the Liberal/National coalition led by John Howard.

Early 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. 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 decided not to pursue higher education, and worked as a clerk at the Electricity Commission of New South Wales and then as a trade union research assistant. He joined the Labor Party as soon as he was eligible. In 1966, he became president of the ALP’s Youth Council. In the 1960s Keating managed ‘The Ramrods’ rock band.

Personal life

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, is a former adviser to former New South Wales minister Craig Knowles.

Keating's interests include the music of Gustav Mahler and collecting French antique clocks. He now resides in Potts Point, in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.

Entry into politics

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 and discussed politics with former New South Wales Labor premier Jack Lang, then in his 90s. In 1971, he succeeded in having Lang re-admitted to the Labor Party. 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.

Keating was a backbencher for most of the period of the Whitlam Government (December 1972 – November 1975), and briefly became Minister for Northern Australia in October 1975 which he lost when the Whitlam Government was dismissed by Sir John Kerr on 11 November 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.However, by July 1982, as the leader of the New South Wales right-wing faction, he had to accept, at least nominally, his own faction's endorsement of Hawke's challenge. The formal announcement by Keating, as the faction leader, was actually penned by Gareth Evans.

Prime Minister: 1991–1996

Keating's agenda included making Australia a republic, reconciliation with Australia's indigenous population, and furthering economic and cultural ties with Asia. The addressing of these issues came to be known as Keating's "big picture. Keating's 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 – he frequently said there was no other country in the world more important to Australia than 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. Keating introduced mandatory detention for asylum seekers in 1992. On 10 December 1992, Keating delivered a speech on Aboriginal reconciliation.

Most commentators believed the 1993 election was "unwinnable" for Labor; the government had been in power for 10 years and the pace of economic recovery from the early 1990s recession was 'weak and slow'. However, Keating succeeded in winning back the electorate with a strong campaign opposing Fightback and a focus on creating jobs to reduce unemployment. Keating led Labor to an unexpected election victory, made memorable by his "true believers" victory speech. 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 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.

Defeat

John Hewson was replaced as Liberal party leader by Alexander Downer in 1994. But Downer's leadership was marred by gaffes, and he resigned in 1995. He was succeeded by John Howard, who had previously led the party from 1986 to 1989. Under Howard, the Coalition moved ahead of Labor in opinion polls and Keating was unable to wrest back the lead. The first warning sign came in March 1995, when Labor lost Canberra in a by-election. Later in 1995, Queensland Labor barely held onto its majority at the 1995 state election before losing it altogether in a 1996 by-election held a week after Keating called the 1996 federal election. Howard, determined to avoid a repetition 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 and memory of the early 1990s recession, and on the longevity of the Labor government, which in 1996 had been in power for 13 years.

After politics

Since leaving parliament, Keating has been a director of various companies, including the Chairman – Corporate Advisory International of Lazard, an investment banking firm.

In 1997 Keating declined to accept appointment as a Companion of the Order of Australia. Other than Kevin Rudd, he is the only former post-1975 prime minister not to hold the award since the institution of the Australian Honours System in 1975.

In 2000, he published a book, Engagement: Australia Faces the Asia-Pacific, which focused on foreign policy during his term as prime minister. 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 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 described Howard's deputy, Peter Costello, as being "all tip and no iceberg" when referring to a pact made by Howard to hand the prime ministership over to Costello after two terms. On Labor's victory at the 2007 election, 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.