Bob Hawke was Australia's 23rd Prime Minister, from 11 March 1983 to 20 December 1991. With 8 years in office, he was the longest-serving Labor prime minister.

Building on his success as trade union president, Hawke established consensus with unions and business to stabilise wage growth, improve the ability of business to compete in global markets and to deregulate the Australian economy and promote growth.

Hawke served in the House of Representatives as the Member for Wills from 25 November 1980 to 20 February 1992.

Did you know?

Bob Hawke:

• became prime minister after only 2 years in parliament
• was prime minister but never a minister
• was Leader of the Opposition for only 1 month before becoming prime minister
• led the greatest Labor electoral win in 1983 (75 seats of the 125 House of Representatives seats and 30 of the 60 Senate seats) since John Curtin led the Labor victory in 1943 (49 of 75 House of Representatives seats and 19 of 36 Senate seats)
• was the longest-serving Labor prime minister with 4 terms in office
• like John Curtin, overcame an alcohol addiction and remained teetotal while in office
• is commemorated with the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre and Bob Hawke College