Paul Keating Totally Explained

Everything about Paul Keating totally explained

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's 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. 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. 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.
   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. 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's interests include collecting French antique clocks, and the music of Mahler. (at the time, home loan rates were capped at 13.5%) and inflation peaked at 12.5% in September 1982 Keating alleged Howard misled to 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'd to have", 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. Keating had also often re-stated his disapproval that Labor since 1996 hadn't 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'd 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.
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

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.
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," 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.

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, including the Chairman (international) of Carnegie, Wylie & Company - a Sydney based investment bank. During Howard's Prime Ministership, Keating has made occasional speeches strongly criticising his successor's social policies, and defending his own policies (such as those on East Timor). A portrait of Keating was commissioned and now hangs in Parliament House, Canberra. 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 The Age Book of the Year and Best Non-fiction book, The Courier-Mail Book of the Year and the National Biography Award. 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 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'd 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).
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.

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