Before I start this rant I should say Bob Hawke is possibly the best PM we have ever had and his cabinet the same.Sunday night was the last episode looking at Bob Hawke as PM.
I'm sorry but I was not impressed. I was around at the time.
When the ALP won they had no plan indeed no idea of the major problems affecting the Australian economy.
It was only after deregulating the banking sector and floating of the dollar that the Government started to do radical things the economy needed.
No-one at the time thought his cabinet was made up of outstanding individuals. Only Paul Keating had it all over his government opponent however that was not the case once he was given Treasury. He took a long time to get on top of treasury matters ( probably about a year into government).
I can still remember reading Max Walsh in the AFR writing about how new Government looked overwhelmed and unimpressive.
What made Hawke a great PM for someone who was almost ( I did say almost) Trump like in telling people about how much he knew about various things was he was a great chairman. HE had confidence in his cabinet ministers and that gave them confidence to do positive things.
He and his Cabinet could change very quickly if circumstances demanded it and it did. When the Dollar looked as though it was in free fall His government produced policies that were good for the economy but were unpopular electorally. They tightened up the means tests for government payments, they reduced tariffs considerably, are just two good examples of this.
I am tired about hearing about Hawke's compassion. Do people not member what he said about Vietnamese refugees when Fraser and only Fraser allowed them to come to Australia?
Personally I found Hawke a very unimpressive individual. He was a very short man ,shorter than John Howard yet no-one ever said little Bobby Hawke.
If John Howard was a boring individual at least he allowed you to talk about various things, with Hawke it was all about Hawke.
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