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The Hawke Memoirs
618 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Bob Hawke
7 booksRobert James Lee Hawke, AC, GCL was an Australian politician who was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia and the Leader of the Labor Party from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving Labor Party Prime Minister. Hawke was born in South Australia but moved to Western Australia as a child. Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 25, 2018
Bob Hawke is an Australian politician who was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the leader of the Labor Party (the oldest political party in Australia, a moderately liberal party, formed to represent the interest of ordinary working people).
Hmmm ... my impression of this book is that Bob Hawke thinks that Bob Hawke can do no wrong. If he should just 'happen' to do a bit of wrong, then he devotes a brief paragraph to it, and quickly moves back to his 'Hawke as Hero' thread.
I'm not into politics. This review is not based on anything political that Hawke did, or didn't do. I don't give a fig which party he represented, etc. etc. My review is based on the take-away feelings I got from reading his version of his political life, and a VERY tiny bit about his personal life.
Maybe he was the great man he thinks he was, and maybe he wasn't. Even is he was, there was surely a less ego-driven way of telling his story, one would hope.
2 Stars = Blah. It didn't do anything for me.
Hmmm ... my impression of this book is that Bob Hawke thinks that Bob Hawke can do no wrong. If he should just 'happen' to do a bit of wrong, then he devotes a brief paragraph to it, and quickly moves back to his 'Hawke as Hero' thread.
I'm not into politics. This review is not based on anything political that Hawke did, or didn't do. I don't give a fig which party he represented, etc. etc. My review is based on the take-away feelings I got from reading his version of his political life, and a VERY tiny bit about his personal life.
Maybe he was the great man he thinks he was, and maybe he wasn't. Even is he was, there was surely a less ego-driven way of telling his story, one would hope.
2 Stars = Blah. It didn't do anything for me.
February 24, 2024
Bob Hawke likes Bob Hawke very much and considers him to be responsible for the biggest social and economic reforms of the 1980s.
Bob Hawke does not like Paul Keating very much and considers Bob Hawke to be responsible for encouraging Paul to fulfill his potential as Treasurer; but anything unpopular Paul did was done by Paul and definitely not Bob.
Bob Hawke does not like Paul Keating very much and considers Bob Hawke to be responsible for encouraging Paul to fulfill his potential as Treasurer; but anything unpopular Paul did was done by Paul and definitely not Bob.
January 26, 2024
At face value an engaging read written by someone with an obvious aptitude for language and rhetoric, The Hawke Memoirs are ultimately so entirely preoccupied with mythopoeic self-lionisation and embittered armchair psychoanalyses of Hawke’s many enemies — perceived or otherwise — that they afford little to no opportunity for introspection, self-reflection, or indeed, insight into anything other than just how many backhanded compliments Hawke is capable of throwing down on a single page.
August 17, 2019
Hawkie was a great man, but this isn't one of the great political autobiographies. Not bad though, and it's quite well written (I could hear him narrating it in my head), albeit a tad too bitter, especially against PJK, for my tastes.
November 24, 2019
To read memoirs that were written 35 years ago interested me because at the time Bob Hawke became Prime Minister, I was going through the worst crisis of my life and I have very little recollection of current affairs for the next five to seven years.
Bob Hawke takes the reader on an interesting journey through his childhood up to and including his years in England as a Rhodes scholar. When he returned to Australia he was responsible for making major changes to the stevedoring industry through containerisation. This led to Hawke being elected President of the ACTU on 11 September 1968.
Before Hawke became Prime Minister his time in the ACTU introduced him to many world events on which he reflects. Through one of these, I gained a new understanding of the United Nations partitioning of Palestine into independent Jewish and Arab states with the proclamation of the State of Israel on 14/5/1948 and how taking it from the Palestinians has never been resolved for them.
Hawke describes how Australia's links to the USA, was a direction initiated by Prime Minister John Curtin who in 1942 stated “Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links and kinship with the United Kingdom.” Hawke's character assessment of President Reagan was of a man he found very friendly and well liked, not an intellectual but someone who did defer to his appointed experts.
Hawkes thoughts on Soviet Communism, Nazism (extreme racism with authoritarian views and behaviour) and Fascism (one party dictatorship which is against democracy and usually racist) led him to name them as the three greatest scourges of the 20th Century. His thoughts on Mao's Great Leap Forward (1958-62) involving collectivism, starvation and atrocious punishment of Chinese citizens gave me an insight into this period in China's history.
Hawke further provides a background on the joint communication facilities with the USA at North West Cape in Western Australia, Pine Gap out from Alice Springs and Narrungar in S.A.
A whole chapter is devoted to the history of uranium mining in Australia which has the world's largest uranium deposits. Of further interest is the background of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Its objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology and to promote co-operation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament. Of note are the non-signatories i.e. India, Israel, Pakistan, South Sudan and North Korea which withdrew.
Leading up to the Australian Labour party winning the 1983 election, Bob Hawke served for one only term in the House of Representatives before taking office in March 1983 as Prime Minister of Australia. He was responsible for introducing asset tests to pensions and an income test on pensioners over 70 years of age. He believed the absence of these tests led to proliferation of tax avoidance schemes. The Costigan Royal Commission pinpointed tax avoidance as Australia's fastest growing industry. The Australian dollar was floated under Bob Hawke. Its first collapse was in early 1985. Hawke's government first floated the idea of a 12.5% consumption tax but it was killed off at a 1985 National Taxation Summit.
Throughout the book Hawke provides many personal assessments on Paul Keating's psychological being.
Hawke's government enacted capital gains tax, disallowed fringe benefits, cracked down on tax shelters and dropped marginal tax rates taking the top rate of 60% down to 49%. It also stopped the taxing of dividends paid to shareholders.
Bob Hawke credits himself with breaking apartheid in South Africa. He cites this success was based on the sanctions imposed against South Africa through the Vancouver CHOGM and he states “Against this background I conceived an initiative which, when accepted and implemented, finally broke apartheid”. That is one heck of a claim!!
From this point forward the memoirs contain reflections on budgets and general government workings but especially they contain many references to Paul Keating including a complete background into why he believed he was entitled to the Prime Ministership once Hawke won his fourth term and how Keating managed to successfully displace Hawke as Prime Minister. Hawke believes he and Keating were the best Prime Minister and Treasurer team up to that day but it is clear to Hawke that Keating was always concerned about what was best for him rather than what was best for his country.
I had to labour through the latter part of the book but I was determined to finish it. I am glad I have read it, particularly in light of Bob Hawke's passing earlier this year
Bob Hawke takes the reader on an interesting journey through his childhood up to and including his years in England as a Rhodes scholar. When he returned to Australia he was responsible for making major changes to the stevedoring industry through containerisation. This led to Hawke being elected President of the ACTU on 11 September 1968.
Before Hawke became Prime Minister his time in the ACTU introduced him to many world events on which he reflects. Through one of these, I gained a new understanding of the United Nations partitioning of Palestine into independent Jewish and Arab states with the proclamation of the State of Israel on 14/5/1948 and how taking it from the Palestinians has never been resolved for them.
Hawke describes how Australia's links to the USA, was a direction initiated by Prime Minister John Curtin who in 1942 stated “Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links and kinship with the United Kingdom.” Hawke's character assessment of President Reagan was of a man he found very friendly and well liked, not an intellectual but someone who did defer to his appointed experts.
Hawkes thoughts on Soviet Communism, Nazism (extreme racism with authoritarian views and behaviour) and Fascism (one party dictatorship which is against democracy and usually racist) led him to name them as the three greatest scourges of the 20th Century. His thoughts on Mao's Great Leap Forward (1958-62) involving collectivism, starvation and atrocious punishment of Chinese citizens gave me an insight into this period in China's history.
Hawke further provides a background on the joint communication facilities with the USA at North West Cape in Western Australia, Pine Gap out from Alice Springs and Narrungar in S.A.
A whole chapter is devoted to the history of uranium mining in Australia which has the world's largest uranium deposits. Of further interest is the background of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Its objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology and to promote co-operation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament. Of note are the non-signatories i.e. India, Israel, Pakistan, South Sudan and North Korea which withdrew.
Leading up to the Australian Labour party winning the 1983 election, Bob Hawke served for one only term in the House of Representatives before taking office in March 1983 as Prime Minister of Australia. He was responsible for introducing asset tests to pensions and an income test on pensioners over 70 years of age. He believed the absence of these tests led to proliferation of tax avoidance schemes. The Costigan Royal Commission pinpointed tax avoidance as Australia's fastest growing industry. The Australian dollar was floated under Bob Hawke. Its first collapse was in early 1985. Hawke's government first floated the idea of a 12.5% consumption tax but it was killed off at a 1985 National Taxation Summit.
Throughout the book Hawke provides many personal assessments on Paul Keating's psychological being.
Hawke's government enacted capital gains tax, disallowed fringe benefits, cracked down on tax shelters and dropped marginal tax rates taking the top rate of 60% down to 49%. It also stopped the taxing of dividends paid to shareholders.
Bob Hawke credits himself with breaking apartheid in South Africa. He cites this success was based on the sanctions imposed against South Africa through the Vancouver CHOGM and he states “Against this background I conceived an initiative which, when accepted and implemented, finally broke apartheid”. That is one heck of a claim!!
From this point forward the memoirs contain reflections on budgets and general government workings but especially they contain many references to Paul Keating including a complete background into why he believed he was entitled to the Prime Ministership once Hawke won his fourth term and how Keating managed to successfully displace Hawke as Prime Minister. Hawke believes he and Keating were the best Prime Minister and Treasurer team up to that day but it is clear to Hawke that Keating was always concerned about what was best for him rather than what was best for his country.
I had to labour through the latter part of the book but I was determined to finish it. I am glad I have read it, particularly in light of Bob Hawke's passing earlier this year
March 18, 2026
I'm a big fan of Bob Hawke and I really wanted to love this book. Interesting read, well written, but self-aggrandising at times. Yeah yeah, I know, if Bob Hawke can't be self-aggrandising in his own memoir, then who can? But at times I felt it went a bit too far, like taking full credit for many things that would've been a team effort (e.g., ending apartheid in South Africa?) and all the bagging out of Paul Keating towards the end that came across as petty. I also felt the timeline jumped around. Otherwise, I recommend to anyone interested in Australian politics.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews