Keating government
The Keating government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Paul Keating of the Australian Labor Party from 1991 to 1996. The government followed on from the Hawke government after Paul Keating replaced Bob Hawke as Labor leader in an internal party leadership challenge in 1991. Together, these two governments are often collectively described as the Hawke-Keating government. The Keating government was defeated in the 1996 federal election and was succeeded by John Howard's Coalition government.
Background
Keating entered Parliament in 1969, aged just 25, when he won the seat of Blaxland for the Australian Labor Party. He went on to briefly serve as minister for Northern Australia during the final days of the Whitlam government in 1975. Keating then served an extended period in the Shadow Ministry through the period of the Fraser government, culminating in his appointment as Shadow Treasurer in January 1983. Labor, led by Bob Hawke went on to defeat Fraser at the subsequent 1983 federal election and Keating began a long period of service as the nation's Treasurer.Keating had no tertiary qualifications and just previously three weeks experience as a minister. Despite this, Keating oversaw a number of important transitions in the Australian economy, including the floating of the Australian dollar and program of deregulation of the Australian economy: including privatisation of assets and reductions in tariffs. He formed a powerful partnership with Hawke to deliver numerous reforms; subsequently, Hawke initially agreed to stand down after the 1990 election in Keating's favour, but later reneged on this proposal, causing tension between the two. On 3 June 1991, Keating challenged Hawke for the leadership, lost the ballot and went to the backbench. Six months later he again challenged Hawke, this time winning the leadership of the Labor Party and becoming the 24th Prime Minister of Australia.
Terms in office
Following his victory in the Labor Party leadership spill of December 1991, Keating went on to lead the Labor Party to the 1993 federal election. Labor was returned with an increased majority in the House of Representatives, with 80 seats to the Liberal Party's 49 and the National Party's 16 seats, with two independents.Three years later, Keating again led the party to the 1996 federal election, in which it was soundly defeated by the John Howard-led Liberal–National Coalition: the Liberals won 75 seats, and the National Party a further 19 to Labor's 49. Keating then resigned from Parliament on 23 April.
Keating's personal style
Keating was a combative Parliamentarian. Author and journalist Peter Hartcher described him as "famed for his flair with an insult".In his earlier career as Treasurer, Keating once said of Opposition Leader John Howard, "From this day onwards Mr Howard will wear his leadership like a crown of thorns and in the Parliament I will do everything I can to crucify him." Other colourful invective he employed in the Parliament to describe political opponents included "brain-damaged", "mangy maggot" and "scumbags". In 1992, Keating refused to allow his Treasurer John Dawkins to appear before a senate estimates committee and described the Senate as consisting of "unrepresentative swill". During John Hewson's tenure as Opposition Leader, he once said that being challenged by Hewson was like "being flogged by a wet lettuce".
Economy
After succeeding from Hawke as Labor leader and prime minister, Keating reshuffled the Cabinet. Dawkins replaced Ralph Willis as Treasurer. In 1991 Australia was in the midst of a prolonged economic recession, with eight-quarters of declining economic growth. In response to these economic conditions, Keating announced the One Nation economic program in February 1992. Throughout his first year in office, unemployment continued to rise and with it government expenditure on welfare. In response, the government passed the Australian National Training Authority Act 1992 and Disability Discrimination Act 1992. Unemployment reached 11.4% at the end of 1992 – the highest level since the Great Depression.The government introduced the Superannuation Guarantee in 1992 as part of a major reform package addressing Australia's retirement income policies. Since its introduction, employers have been required to make compulsory contributions to superannuation on behalf of most of their employees. This contribution was originally set at 3% of the employees' income, and has been incrementally increased.
A landmark workfare scheme known as Working Nation was implemented with the intention of providing work and training for the long-term unemployed, while the Industrial Relations Reform Act 1993 created a set of minimum entitlements in the workplace, relating to equal remuneration for work of equal value, unpaid parental leave, termination of employment, and minimum wages. According to Bill Kelty, the industrial changes introduced by Keating government provided trade unions "with more rights to bargain and more protection than was afforded to unions in most other nations". In addition, the Sex Discrimination Act and Affirmative Action Act of 1986 were strengthened in 1992 by a series of amendments, with the SDA provisions extended to federal industrial awards and protections against sexual harassment in the workplace extended.
A number of adjustments were made to the social wage during Keating's five years in office. These included the introduction of the Earnings Credit Scheme, which enabled pensioners to earn extra income without losing their pension payments, a nonincome-tested Child Care Cash Rebate and a Home Child Care Allowance, the latter of which was paid directly to full-time carers of children in the home, a maternity allowance, a Commonwealth Dental Health Program, the Mature Age Allowance, a Parenting Allowance, and an Additional Parenting Allowance to the partners of unemployed workers.
The system of rental assistance was made more generous, with the maximum rates of Rent Assistance rates increased in real terms between March 1993 and September 1994 by 138.9% for families with
three or more children, by 109.2% for families with one or two children, by 90.5% for single recipients without children, and by 79.5 for couples without children. These increased rates were protected by inflation as the rates had been indexed twice yearly from March 1991 onwards. Students in receipt of the homeless rate of AUSTUDY or ABSTUDY were also made eligible for rental assistance.
The Keating government also made improvements to the family benefits system, continuing a major policy of the Hawke government. In 1987, the Hawke government established benchmarks for the adequacy of maximum level family payments to ensure that they provided effective assistance to those in need. These benchmarks were set at percentages of the pension rate, and were therefore linked indirectly to Average Weekly Earnings. From a value of 11.9% of the combined married pension rate, the value of the Family Allowance Supplement was set to increase to 15% for children under 13 years old and to 20% for children aged between the ages of 13 and 15. These benchmarks were increased by the Keating government in 1992 and again in 1995 to reach 16.6% and 21.6%, respectively.
The Keating government sold government business enterprises Qantas, CSL Limited and Commonwealth Bank.
Immigration
The Keating government pursued a multiculturalist immigration policy.The Keating government introduced mandatory detention for asylum seekers with bipartisan support in 1992, scrapping a time limit of 273 days. Mandatory detention would become increasingly controversial under the succeeding Howard government, a Coalition government led by Howard.
Culture and society
The government's agenda under Keating included creating an Australian republic, reconciliation with Australia's Indigenous population, and furthering economic and cultural ties with Asia. Keating and his supporters styled his approach to social policy as "Big Picture" politics. Keating embarked on a legislative program which included establishing the Australian National Training Authority and the Creative Nation cultural policy in October 1994. The government also undertook a review of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, and legislated native title rights for Indigenous Australians following the Mabo High Court decision.Republican nationalism
In February 1992, Paul Keating announced that he wanted Australia to change its national flag because it contained the Union Jack within its design. Later that month, Queen Elizabeth II visited Australia for the Sydney Council's 150th anniversary and Keating greeted the Queen with a speech in which he spoke of a growing "national purpose" and "independence" in Australia. He was then accused by the British press of breaching protocol by putting his arm around the Queen's back. When queried about these events in Parliament on 27 February 1992, Keating launched a repudiation of Australian ties to Britain and called the Liberals "'bootlickers" and "lickspitters" and accused them of "cultural cringe to a country which decided not to defend the Malay peninsula, not to worry about Singapore, not to give us our troops back to keep ourselves free from Japanese domination". The Liberal-National Opposition, led by Dr John Hewson, called the republican agenda a "distraction" from Australia's economic problems, criticised Keating's attack on Britain's war effort as a fiction and argued that Australia had already long since established independence from Britain. Australians for Constitutional Monarchy was established by Michael Kirby to counter the republican movement. Republicanism was however to become a key goal of Keating's cultural agenda for Australia.With the House of Windsor suffering its 1992 annus horribilis, the republican cause became widely supported in the nation's newspapers, but Keating's comments about the flag and Britain's war record outraged groups like the Returned Services League, whose membership still consisted of veterans of the First and Second World Wars, and a ban on republicans from entering their clubs was announced for ANZAC Day 1992. The opposition and many observers called Keating's comments insensitive on the basis of such factors as the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse in the defence of Singapore. RSL President, Brigadier Alf Garland, called Keating "an Irish republican bigot". On 27 April 1992, Keating visited Kokoda in a conspicuous effort to shift Australia's war remembrance focus away from its role in assisting Britain at Gallipoli and in Europe in the First World War and towards Australia's Pacific War effort, and the New Guinea Campaign which saw Australian soldiers halt the advance of Japanese troops.
Keating proceeded with measures to remove the symbolism of Monarchy in Australia – removing reference to the Queen from citizenship and ministerial oaths and affirmations. In a 1993 election policy launch, Keating argued that Australia would be "better able to succeed in the world" with an Australian head of state and announced a committee of "eminent persons" to develop a discussion paper for transition to a republic to coincide with the 2001 centenary of Federation. Following the 1993 election, Keating announced that his vision for a republic had been endorsed and that he would move ahead with plans for referendum. In April 1993, the establishment of a Republic Advisory Committee was announced. Keating advocated a model involving parliamentary appointment of a president – this was criticised by members of the ALP left and by the new leader of the Australian Democrats, Cheryl Kernot who wanted more substantial change, such as direct election.
On 18 September 1993, Keating met with the Queen at Balmoral Castle and outlined his republican program, which involved a referendum for a transition to a republic by 2001, but for Australia to remain within the Commonwealth of Nations. The Republic Advisory Committee, chaired by Malcolm Turnbull of the Australian Republican Movement, submitted its report to the government on 5 October 1993 and Keating announced a working party of ministers to develop a paper for cabinet. Keating ultimately put forward a his original republican model.
Alexander Downer became Opposition Leader in May 1994 and developed an alternative policy for examining constitutional reform – proposing a constitutional convention be held sometime after the 1996 election to establish a consensus on the republican question. John Howard, a constitutional monarchist, succeeded Downer in 1995, but maintained the Coalition's commitment to this proposal. Howard, in contrast to Keating, spoke in favour of the constitutional monarchy, the Australian flag and traditions like the commemoration of ANZAC Day.
In June 1995, in a televised speech to Parliament entitled "An Australian Republic The Way Forward", Keating outlined a plan for a republic involving a president selected by a two-thirds majority of Parliament, following nomination by the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The reserve powers and ceremonial duties of the governor-general were to be maintained. This the government proposed be put to a referendum in 1998 or 1999. Howard went on to win the 1996 election and established the Australian Constitutional Convention 1998, which settled on a similar republican model to that proposed by Keating, which was put to the people by the Howard government in the 1999 Australian republic referendum.