Bob HAWKE

Former Prime Minister of Australia

Member, Council of Advisors, BFA

 

 The Hon Bob Hawke was born in South Australia in 1929. After completing his education at the University of Western Australia (Degrees of Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts Economics), he studied at Oxford University under Rhodes Scholarship in 1953 – 1955, graduating with the Degree of Bachelor of Letters. In 1956 he returned to Australia to take up a research scholarship at the Australian National University, and in 1958 became Research Officer and Advocate with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). He was ACTU President from 1970-1980. In 1980 he was elected to the Federal Parliament, and in February 1983 became the Leader of the Opposition. He led the Labor Party to victory in the general election in March 1983 and, in winning three successive elections, became Australia’s longest serving Labor Prime Minister. He ceased to be Prime Minister in December 1991 and resigned from the Parliament in February 1992. His post-parliamentary career has included Adjunct Professor in the Research Schools of Pacific Studies and Social Sciences at the Australian National University; Honorary Visiting Professor in Industrial Relations at the University of Sydney and Membership of the Advisory Council of the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He is an Honorary Fellow at the University College of Oxford and holds Honorary Degrees from the University of Western Australia, Nanjing University of China, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; the University of New South Wales; the University of South Australia; Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law, Oxford University and an Hon Doctorate of Humanities, Rikkyo University, Tokyo (2003). Current honorary positions include: Member of the Council of Advisors of the Boao Forum for Asia; Chairman, The Hawke Research Institute Advisory Board at the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, University of South Australia; Chairman of the Committee of Experts on Membership of the Education International; Chairman, Trade Union Education Foundation; Member of the Advisory Board, Deliberative Issues Australia; and Patron of Indigenous Engineering Aid.