Bob Hawke - Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

Hawke's first attempt to enter Parliament came during the 1963 federal election. He stood in the seat of Corio and managed to achieve a 3.1% swing against the national trend, but fell short of winning the seat. He was first elected to the House of Representatives at the 1980 federal election for Wills in Melbourne. Immediately upon his entry into Parliament, Hawke was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet by Labor Leader Bill Hayden as Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Employment and Youth. With opinion polls indicating that, in contrast to Hayden, Hawke was "a certain election winner", Hayden called a leadership ballot for 16 July 1982. Hayden managed to defeat Hawke and remain Leader, but his five vote victory over the former ACTU President was not large enough to dispel doubts that he could lead the Labor to victory at a federal election.

Hayden's leadership was further questioned when Labor performed poorly in a by-election in December 1982 for the Victorian seat of Flinders, following the resignation of the former Liberal Minister Sir Phillip Lynch. Labor needed a swing of 5.5% to win the seat, but could only achieve 3%. This convinced many Labor MPs that only Hawke could lead Labor to victory at the upcoming election. Labor Party power-brokers such as Graham Richardson and Barrie Unsworth now lined up behind Hawke. More significantly, Hayden's staunch friend and political ally, Labor Senate Leader John Button, eventually became convinced that Hawke's chances of victory were greater than Hayden's. Button's defection was crucial in encouraging Hayden to resign as Labor Leader less than two months after the lacklustre performance in Flinders. When Hayden announced his resignation on 3 February 1983, Hawke was named acting leader. On the same day, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser called a snap election for 5 March 1983, hoping to capitalise on Labor's feuding. He believed at first that he had caught Labor before it could elect a replacement Leader, but was surprised to find out that Hayden had already resigned. Hawke was elected Leader of the Labor Party, and twenty-five days later Labor won on a 24-seat swing, ending seven years of Liberal rule.