Tag Archives: Bob Hawke

Labor Shocker!

18 Saturday May 2019

Posted by in Australian Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Vote for a Future
I know it’s too early to call, and I didn’t want to say anything during the campaign that might jinx it, but I think the ALP ran a shocker of an ad campaign. They didn’t focus on vision or a fair go for all Australians, they concentrated on instability in the Libs which Morrison countered very well by changing the party rules and campaigning as a one man show. Why the hell didn’t Labor play to its strength? They had a very talented team that side by side was streets ahead of their Liberal counterparts. I think the current Labor team is the most impressive since the ‘nations best ever team’ that Hawke had around him. Why didn’t we see those ads, instead of the ineffectual voiceover behind the Morrison/Palmer ads.

I cannot see how the ALP message could have cut through. It was full of mixed and incoherent themes. Labor were very bold in laying out an ambitious agenda which was great and unprecedented. There was a lot of vision for a kinder, fairer, smarter, cleaner, healthier, and more prosperous country that worked for the many not just the few. However, they didn’t educate the electorate enough to counter the Libs baseless scare campaign.

There is no way that anyone could have grasped any story that Labor was trying to tell. Where were the very effective Workchoices style campaign ads from 2007 that humanised the Labor agenda. It just wasn’t there. All we saw were lots of micro campaigns on marginal issues that diluted the message.

Two days after Bob Hawke died, I think he would be asking, where was the gravitas? Where was the straight talk? Where was the coherent message? Rather than help Labor win, I think his death only set the contrast between his campaigns and the pathetic campaign that this Labor campaign organization ran.

I’m bloody angry because this was the most important election in our lifetime and you wouldn’t have bloody known it. The Labor party didn’t hammer that home. This was the election that Labor should never have even come close to losing and if they do, and I think they have, they’ve got some very serious soul searching to do and some serious arsekicking to do.

This was the worst Labor campaign I’ve seen in 25 years.

Pissed off!!!

Rant over

Vale Bob Hawke

17 Friday May 2019

Posted by in Australian Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Bob Hawke PM

Former Australian Prime Minister Robert James Lee Hawke

Yesterday, Australia lost one of its giants. Throughout our short history we have counted a handful of truly towering figures, people whose existence has sharply shaped the destiny of our nation. And towering above them all was Bob Hawke, our country’s 23rd prime minister. He served in that office from 1983 to 1991, an eight year span that enchanted, at times transfixed, and ultimately transformed this country.

It’s hard in 2019 to convey how omnipresent Bob Hawke was in the life of Australia from the late 1960s right through to the 1990s. No one before or since has had such a profound impact on this country (with the only possible exceptions: Gough Whitlam and war-time prime minister John Curtin). In 1970 he was the most popular and respected person in the country and by 1984 he had also become the most popular prime minister in history with sustained approval at an astonishing 75%. No one has come close since.

In the coming days and weeks, many words will be written and even more will be spoken, lauding this wonderful and great man. I don’t have any great insight into his life and work so I won’t add mine to the many eulogies to come, but I would like to relate my brief impression of him.

In 1975 I met (soon to be prime minister) Malcolm Fraser just before he delivered the first Menzies oration at the University of Western Australia and was impressed by how he turned an innate nervousness backstage into a confident and polished performance on stage. Great (and tall) as he appeared, he was all too human and didn’t fill me with awe the way meeting Bob Hawke did.

In 1981 I met ex-prime minister Gough Whitlam and formed an unlikely friendship with him that lasted several years. While my first meeting with Gough was exhilarating, it still didn’t fill me with awe the way meeting Bob Hawke did.

In 1983 when I met Bob Hawke for the first time, I felt my whole body tingle in a way I hadn’t experienced before or since. I know there were a lot of people around me on that day who also had that strange otherworldly feeling. Bob Hawke had that weird effect on people wherever he appeared.

There were some questionable actions that he took both publicly and privately but when it comes right down to it, who could compare with the way he made us all feel. We could sorely use some of that authenticity and electric raw charisma right now.

There’s a very good case to suggest he was our greatest prime minister. I wouldn’t argue with that.

It will be a very long time before we see his like again.

What a life.

Although Bob was out of office for more than 25 years, he was adored by new generations of young people. Who can forget the chant ‘Hawkie, Hawkie’ at the cricket, when he would skol a beer.

Do you have any recollections or impressions of Bob that you’d like to share?

:: Please leave a comment ::