Farewell Prime Minister, Our Friend

With his love of women, beer and sport, Bob Hawke was a prime minister and man of the people

When Bob Hawke declared that “any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum” after Australia stunned the world in winning the 1983 America’s Cup after a 132-year stranglehold, he became a legend.

It was the year he led Labor to a landslide victory, and an ecstatic Bob was in Perth when Alan Bond’s Australia II snatched victory. The larrikin prime minister promptly declared a national holiday to celebrate the extraordinary victory.

It became one of the defining moments of his time in the Lodge, forever stamping him as a man of the people, a politician who men and women loved, and felt they knew and liked, after he broke the mould of all who came before him.

His achievements are almost countless, but whatever the accolades, he remained a hero to ordinary Australians, because he wasn’t afraid to embrace the Aussie spirit. He loved a beer, a bet and the sports-mad culture for which our nation was famous.

His heartbroken wife, author Blanche d’Alpuget released a statement after he died peacefully in his bed at his Sydney home last Thursday.

“Today we lost Bob Hawke, a great Australian – many would say the greatest Australian of the post- war era,” Blanche said.