Hawke-Keating Government - Keating Prime-ministership (1991-1996)

Keating Prime-ministership (1991-1996)

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.

The Keating government introduced mandatory detention for asylum seekers with bipartisan support in 1992. Mandatory detention would become increasingly controversial under the successive Howard coalition government.

In 1993 the Government passed the Native Title Act in response to the High Court's decision in Mabo v Queensland. It was Australia’s first national native title legislation.

Most commentators believed the 1993 election was "unwinnable" for Labor; the government had been in power for 10 years, the pace of economic recovery was slow, and there was an electorate perception of Keating as arrogant. However, the government under Keating's leadership succeeded in winning back the electorate with a strong campaign opposing Fightback and its GST, and a promised focus on creating jobs coming out of the recession. Keating led Labor to an unexpected election victory, and his "true believers" victory speech became famous.

In its second term of office Graham Richardson resigned involuntarily in March 1994. This was at the same time as the involuntary resignation of Ros Kelly over the Sports rorts affair. Following the resignation of treasurer John Dawkins former WA Premier Carmen Lawrence entered parliament and the ministry. However, she was unable to contribute as effectively as might have been expected due to controversy over the Royal Commission into the Easton affair.

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. These issues came to be known as Keating's "big picture." Keating's embarked on a legislative program included establishing the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA), the establishment of the Creative Nation scheme (which significantly increased funding for the arts), a review of the Sex Discrimination Act, and native title rights of Australia's indigenous peoples following the "Mabo" High Court decision. 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 Act of 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 (including unfair dismissal), 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 and Affirmative Action Acts 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 improvements were made to the social wage during Keating's five years in office. These included the introduction of an 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 (an early retirement scheme for unemployed disadvantaged Australians over the age of sixty), a Parenting Allowance (a payment for parents with children at home and with very little personal income), an Additional Parenting Allowance to the partners of unemployed workers. and a Seniors’ Health Card.

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. In addition, various schemes were introduced to assist farmers.

The Keating Government also made improvements to the family benefits system, continuing a major policy of Bob Hawke’s government. In 1987, the Hawke Government established benchmarks for the adequacy of maximum level family payments (i.e. payments to social security recipients and low-income working families) 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.

In foreign policy, Keating developed bilateral links with Australia's neighbours, in particular with Indonesia, and took an active role in the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), initiating the annual leaders' meeting.

The Keating Government was defeated by the Liberal-National Coalition led by John Howard at the Australian federal election, 1996.