Barrie cassidy bob hawke biography
Barrie cassidy bob hawke biography
Pacific force inc...
ABC's Barrie Cassidy — who once served as media adviser for Bob Hawke — pays tribute to the late PM
What did I most admire about Bob Hawke? He abhorred racism. And bigotry. Hated both.
And whenever he got a whiff of it he would call it out, no matter the consequences and no matter what the focus groups would think.
How Hawke changed Australia
As prime minister for almost nine years, Bob Hawke brought in major economic and environmental reforms that endure to this day.
That above anything else had a profound impact on me during my four years as his senior press secretary.
He first displayed his credentials when as ACTU boss he organised the demonstrations against the visiting Springboks in support of action against apartheid.
That was not popular, but he did it anyway and day and night used the media to make his case.
Then once prime minister — at CHOGM meetings in The Bahamas in 1985 and Vancouver in 1987 — he enlisted international banker Jim Wolfensohn to organise fin