Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the beautiful words that have been spoken so far by the Leader of the Opposition, by the Deputy Prime Minister and by the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, can I also say thank you to you for the comments you made at Bob Hawke's memorial two weeks ago. That was a great gathering of the Labor family, led by the Leader of the Opposition. It wouldn't necessarily have been the easiest speech to make, but it really mattered to us that the Prime Minister of Australia was there to acknowledge Bob Hawke on that day. You did it with dignity and grace, and we thank you.

Bob Hawke led an amazing life—a magnificent painting on the canvas of Australia. As a young boy in the seventies my heroes, like many people's, were in world of sport: Lillee, Thommo, Sam Newman at Geelong, the Nankervis brothers. But for me, with an unusual—perhaps an early and some might say an unhealthy—interest in politics, Bob Hawke occupied the same space in my imagination. He was a presence on our screens that sparkled with energy: a playful smile and a fierce power of speech that was a weapon in the service of the downtrodden and the most vulnerable.

He was a larger than life figure, heroic, and perhaps in that youthful image there is just the smallest example of the way in which the whole nation related to Bob Hawke. From the very first day that Bob entered the public eye, oozing charisma and seriously intelligent, he began a lifelong love affair with the Australian public, the likes of which we have never seen again. I absolutely remember, as a 15-year-old on that fateful day in February 1983, being glued to the TV as then Prime Minister Fraser went to Government House and at the very same time Bob Hawke became the Leader of the Labor Party. It felt like such a portentous moment, as though we were at the dawn of a new age. Just a few weeks later this was realised as Bob Hawke was elected the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia.

As I entered adulthood and a more serious political consciousness, Bob Hawke was the main actor on the stage. And what a star he was. He embraced his union roots, but he reached out to the whole of Australia, famously speaking on the night of his election to those who didn't vote for him. He grabbed the idealism of the Whitlam era but, with pragmatism and smarts, he implemented it. He understood the power of government, in truth, the power of that side of this chamber, because that's the side that changes lives. In the process, he led the most significant peacetime government that this country has ever seen. He opened up the economy. He floated the dollar. He reduced tariffs. He greatly increased our productivity. He turned us into a trading nation and, in the process, laid the foundations for 28 years of uninterrupted economic growth.

He embraced immigration. There would not have been a milk bar owner in the 1980s of Greek, Italian or Eastern European heritage who did not see Bob Hawke as an absolute hero, because he made them feel welcome. He made them feel that this was their country too—as it most certainly is. He dramatically increased school participation rates, broadened our university base and, in the process, made us a smarter country. He played his part in the reconciliation of Australia with its First Peoples. He significantly increased the status of women within our society. He left us an incredible environmental legacy: the Franklin River, Kakadu, the Daintree, Antarctica. And he had Australia take its place in international affairs as a confident nation. Playing his part in ending apartheid is an example. He played his part in seeing Australia know who we were as a nation and what we were on about in the world.

George Megalogenis, in his really wonderful book Australia's Second Chance, said about the compact of federation that it was a stunning act of self-harm, a political defence mechanism that united labour and capital by extending racial purity to industry protection. George said that Australia's political class was born thinking small.

Bob often remarked that since European settlement the most significant step in our nation's history has been that wave of immigration in the immediate aftermath of World War II. That, combined with his government in partnership with Paul Keating, tore done the moribund compact of federation, and in its place he put a superstructure for our nation today, for, more than any other person who has graced this chamber or this parliament, Bob Hawke is the architect of modern Australia.

And so, for a young person enthused with government and politics and the power that they had to change people's lives for the better, Bob was an inspiration. Everybody who sits behind me now can articulate the ideas and the philosophies which led them to become a member of the Australian Labor Party and a member of this place. It's the same for me too. But, in addition, there is for me a deep and profound sense that I agreed with Bob, that I followed Bob, because for people of my generation Bob Hawke was the inspiration which led us to a life of public service in the Australian Labor movement. But, actually, I see Bob as the Australian embodiment of an even grander tradition, because we stand here with the deep belief that the evolution of civilised society principally occurs through the operation of progressive politics implemented from the centre. That is Jefferson. It's Lincoln. It's the two Roosevelts and the story of America. But, in a contemporary Australian sense, it is Bob Hawke who is that part of the golden thread of human development, the custodians of which in this country today are the Australian Labor Party.

In the year 2000 I became an assistant secretary of the ACTU. Bob in his retirement gave a lot of time to the ACTU. He used to note that it, of all the organisations and places where he had worked, was the one where he had spent the most time. As a result, I got to know Bob just a little and I really remember the first substantive meeting that I had with Bob. We sat together at a lunch at the ACTU congress in Wollongong in that same year. I was nervous—pretty starstruck, actually—about spending some time with Bob, but I needn't have been, because Bob put us all at ease straightaway. He was charming. He was engaging and interesting. He was interested, actually, in a really generous way, in us and in the people around me, and before long we were hanging on his every word and we were in the palm of his hand. I remember ringing my dad straight after. I was really excited. I felt like I'd been given a very special gift: an hour with Bob. In the ensuing years, I got that gift a few times.

There was pain in Bob's life. As Paul Keating remarked at Bob's memorial, this is a brutal business that we're all engaged in, and mostly we all get carted out. But there was not a hint of bitterness in Bob Hawke. He was excited to be alive. And it struck me, at the end of the day, that here was a man who was just really delighted to be Bob Hawke. I've got to say that Australia without Bob feels a little less bright. It feels a little less colourful and a little less interesting. Yet modern Australia is such a vastly better place for having been touched by the existence of Bob Hawke.

So I want to give my condolence today to Blanche and all the Hawke family, and to thank them for allowing their man to become our great man. He was Labor through and through. He was from us. But, ultimately, he was actually much bigger than us. He was a part of the entire Australian polity. At the end of the day, he is owned by every Australian. In his passing, in the words of Edward Stanton, spoken about another past hero, Bob now belongs to the ages.

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