1983 Hawke Campaign Poster
1983
Other topics in The Hawke Years
The Second Term
In the lead-up to the election, Labor had made two significant commitments in economic management. First, budget discipline would be framed by what Hawke called the ‘Trilogy’: that is, there would be no increase in taxation, government spending or the budget deficit, each as a…
The 1987 Campaign
Labor prepared for the 1987 election campaign on three major policy fronts. First, having already nominated Stage 2 of the Kakadu National Park for World Heritage listing, Labor burnished its environmental credentials with new initiatives. Stage 3 of Kakadu was gazetted, and the Daintree wet…
The third term
Immediately after the election, Hawke restructured the Commonwealth public service, amalgamating smaller ministries into ‘super’ departments covering larger portfolio areas. This yielded administrative efficiencies by reducing the total number of separate departments (from 27 to 16), while also satisfying the ambitions of backbenchers and factions…
The fourth term
Labor’s new term in office was overshadowed by a protracted economic slowdown and the culmination of the leadership struggle between the Prime Minister and Treasurer. While the Reserve Bank cut interest rates in April, August and November of 1990, this was too little and too…