1983 – The Silver Bodgie
On 11 March 1983, the ‘Silver Bodgie’ was elected Prime Minister of Australia. It was a moment of vengeance. The significance of that moment goes back more than seven years, to 11 November 1975, when Malcolm Fraser had been sworn in as caretaker Prime Minister of Australia. It was one of the most controversial moments in Australian political history, but it, too, needs to be seen in context. At the very least, we should go back to the federal election of 2 December 1972, Labor’s return to power, and Gough Whitlam’s appointment as the country’s new Prime Minister. Confused by all these dates? Let me explain the sequence.
It all began dearly beloved (as Rudyard Kipling would say), with Gough Whitlam determined to shake up the role of government. Under his leadership, Labor had won the election with the slogan ‘It’s Time’, on a platform that included ending conscription, (as well as releasing those in prison because they had refused the draft); a surcharge on income tax to pay for universal health care; the removal of university tuition fees; the establishment of a schools commission to review educational needs; and a commitment to address ageing infrastructure. Like the man, the approach was bold, clear, and exciting. The ALP (Australian Labor Party) had won a majority in the House of Representatives in 1972 (just nine ahead of the Coalition, which comprises the Liberal and Country parties) but failed to gain control of the Senate.
No matter. The reforms began, but Whitlam knew longer term success depended on control of the Senate, and decided to call another general election in 1974, this time with a double dissolution of parliament, putting all the seats in both the House of Representatives and Senate on the ballot, rather than the usual situation when only half the Senate seats would be up for grabs. It was another bold move by Whitlam, but it was one that proved far from successful. The ALP continued to hold on to power, but their majority dropped from nine to five. They gained seats in the Senate, but not a majority: Labor and the Coalition each held 29, with the balance of power in the hands of two others, one from the Liberal Movement, the other a conservative independent. Rather than giving Whitlam greater control, he found himself having to fight off an opposition determined to stop his ‘socialist’ agenda.
It all came to a head in October 1975. Convinced they would win a snap election, the Coalition were pushing for Whitlam to go to the polls. He resisted. Led by Malcolm Fraser, the leader of the Liberal Party, the opposition voted in the Senate to defer parliamentary consideration of the ‘supply bills’, the source of funding for government for the following year. Whitlam responded by offering his own challenge to the Coalition and announced that he would call an early half-Senate election, before the end of the year, if supply remained blocked. The stalemate continued for four weeks. On 6 November, Whitlam advised the Governor General, (Sir) John Kerr that he was going to announce the half-senate election the following week, on 11 November (the election itself was to be held in December). The election process was readied, and on the morning of 11 November Whitlam sent Governor General Kerr a copy of his election announcement, scheduled for delivery later that day.
While this was in train, Malcolm Fraser had his own issues. Blocking supply was an extreme measure, and he knew some coalition MPs were unwilling to continue the approach. Opinion polls were moving against them, and he knew he had to act quickly. With Whitlam unwilling to call an election, the only other path was to approach the Governor General himself. In October, a former Commonwealth Solicitor General had prepared a legal opinion that the Governor-General had both the right and the duty to dismiss the government if it could not obtain supply, but Kerr disagreed, and, in true Australian style, told Whitlam and his ministers he considered the view ‘bullshit’. On television, Whitlam explained the convention that the Governor General must always act on the advice of his Prime Minister. It was generally agreed his role was, in effect, a ‘rubber stamp’. However, Kerr was far from complaisant and made it clear he didn’t accept the view that the Governor-General couldn’t act before supply ran out. He tried for a compromise: he suggested the opposition allow the supply bills to pass, and Whitlam abandon the half-Senate election. Fraser refused, and then Whitlam refused another compromise, a proposal that the next general election be held in the middle of 1976. Neither side was willing to give way. Kerr sought legal advice as to whether the Constitution allowed him to dismiss Whitlam and call for a general election. Whitlam considered asking Queen Elizabeth to terminate Kerr’s appointment.
Early on Tuesday 11 November, Whitlam arranged to meet Kerr at 12:45 pm to confirm his plans for a half-Senate election. They met, and Whitlam found himself ‘dismissed’. Minutes later, Fraser was appointed caretake Prime Minister, and Kerr announced a double dissolution general election to be held on 13 December. In those heady, tense weeks Whitlam and Labor appeared to believe they would win, denigrating Kerr and attacking Fraser with an election slogan: ‘Shame, Fraser, Shame’. Whitlam called on supporters to “maintain the rage”. It wasn’t enough; the ALP lost heavily. Fraser and the Coalition would win two further elections, encouraged by the success of their 1975 slogan to ‘Turn on the lights’.
Through Fraser’s eight years as Prime Minister, Robert James Lee Hawke was building his reputation. His notoriety had begun long before. Educated in Western Australia, Hawke won a Rhodes Scholarship to University College, Oxford, to study philosophy, politics and economics, the degree favoured by politicians, and completed a thesis on wage-fixing in Australia. However, his academic achievements were were to pale into insignificance against his setting a new world record for drinking beer: he consumed 1.4 litres of beer, aka a ‘yard of ale’, in 11 seconds. He was later to acknowledge this may have contributed to his political success more than any other achievement, a mark of real distinction in Australia, given its beer drinking culture! Once back in Australia, Bob Hawke became notorious for outspoken, sometime rather loutish behaviour, combined with partying and several affairs.
For many years Hawke was known as the ‘silver bodgie’. It was a curious term, in his case a commentary on his long, silver hairstyle. The word bodgie was first applied to returning World War 2 Australian seamen, especially those who were also traders on the black market, known by their distinctive clothing: moccasins and ‘American drape suits complete with pegged trousers’. By the 1950s, bodgies were the equivalent of the UK’s rockers and US ‘Greasers’; they drove hotted up cars or bikes, grew their hair long and wore satin shirts. The female members of this subculture were wedgies, who cut their hair short and wore jeans, resulting in considerable gender confusion for older Australians! If Bob Hawke was a ‘silver bodgie’ it was because he was seen as a rebel, even if he was younger than the other bodgies.
By the time Whitlam was making his mark in politics, Hawke was moving up in the labour movement. In 1969 he was elected President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), vowing to modernise union politics and policies. He became well-known in 1971 when he joined with other members of the ACTU in an anti-apartheid protest over South Africa’s plans to send a segregated team for its rugby tour of Australia. He encouraged various unions to refuse to serve and support the team. The visitors, the Springboks, arrived in late June, to be greeted by riots and disruptions to their fixtures. Despite malicious mail and threatening phone calls, Hawke remained committed to the ban on apartheid teams and later that year the South African cricket team was successfully denied entry.
If Hawke had come to national prominence through confrontation, his foremost skill was in completing successful industrial negotiations. After concluding several positive wage agreements (from the union perspective), speculation began he was seeking to enter politics. However, if that was the plan, its likelihood was compromised by the public’s awareness of his reputation as a heavy drinker and womaniser, activities which had placed a massive and well-known strain on his marriage and family life. In 1975, following the Whitlam dismissal and Fraser’s victory, he was offered leadership of the ALP, but turned it down. Increasingly involved in federal politics, in 1977 he took a public stance in opposing Vietnamese refugees arriving by boat entry to Australia, stating they should be subject to the normal immigration procedures or otherwise deported. It was a view that angered the left-wing of Labor. The stresses of his ACTU Presidency and engagement with politics, together with his private life, led to a physical collapse in 1979: after this he vowed to overcome his alcoholism (though it later became evident he had never given up on drinking beer, wine, or spirits).
After several aborted plans to run for parliament, Hawke finally decided to compete in the Wills electorate in 1980, a safe seat. Immediately after winning easily, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations. The ALP leader, Bill Hayden, facing increased criticism after losing the 1980 election, was becoming vulnerable. The ALP performed poorly in a bye-election in December 1982 and less than two months later Hayden announced his resignation as Leader of the Labor Party and Hawke was elected unopposed as Party Leader and Leader of the Opposition. While this was taking place, Fraser, confident he could beat Hayden, and worried about any leadership change, had called a snap general election for 5 March 1983. He moved too late, and Hawke led Labor to a landslide victory, with a 24-seat swing. ending seven years of Liberal-Country Party control. The Silver Bodgie was in!
Hawke proved a very different leader. If Whitlam had been visionary, introducing a slew of changes, Hawke was slower in making reforms. In part this was needed, because Fraser’s government had left the country with a major budget deficit. But it was also a matter of style. Hawke divided the government into two tiers, with only the most senior ministers sitting in Cabinet, giving him considerable scope to empower individual ministers. He demonstrated the same consensual leadership style he’d shown at the ACTU, committing time to chairing lengthy Cabinet meetings, and granting a significant degree of autonomy to ministers. Cabinet members were allowed to challenge one another’s policy proposals in meetings, often in lengthy debates, and the approach frequently led to conclusions being adopted only once they had the support of a clear majority of ministers. In this way, Hawke was able to avoid what was claimed as the unwieldy outcomes of the Whitlam Government. Years later, many of those same ministers were to agree it was Hawke’s consensus style of leadership and his details-oriented approach were his greatest strengths as Prime Minister.
Although it’s impact couldn’t have been evident at the time, another key element of his success came from the political partnership he had developed with Paul Keating, his Treasurer. They couldn’t have been more different. Hawke was a Rhodes Scholar; Keating left high school early; Hawke loved cigars, betting, and most forms of sport, while Keating preferred classical architecture, Mahler, and French Empire clocks! More to the point, while Keating worked the numbers, Hawke worked the MPs, persuading them to support major policy changes. While Hawke sometimes didn’t always support reforms, he excelled in providing political guidance on what was electorally feasible and how best to sell it to the public. For much of his time in office he was also extremely popular with the electorate.
The man, his appeal, his character, all of these attributes are best summarised by events in September 1983. It had been an unusual year. On 16 February, fires swept parts of Australia, and 75 died in the Ash Wednesday bushfires, one of the worst disasters in the country’s history. Then, just a month later, Labor had pushed Fraser and the coalition out of office. Now, against the odds, Australia was competing in the Admiral’s Cup, a yachting trophy that had always been won by a US team. However, on this occasion Australia’s entry, Australia II, had a secret weapon, a new design incorporating an underwater winged keel.
The races had been close, and after 6 of the seven races, both teams had won three, ensuring the cup title came down to the seventh and final race. The weather on this deciding race day, 26 September 1983, was a light wind, making both teams anxious to avoid making a mistake and ending up facing a protest. Dennis Conner, captaining the US yacht Liberty, won the start, but Australia II, with skipper John Bertrand, took an early lead. It was illusory, and towards the end of the race, Liberty had built up what appeared to be an unbeatable lead. Then smart tactics saw Australia grab back the lead, and in a spectacular tacking duel, they stayed ahead, and remained in front up to the finish to win by a margin of 41 seconds. In doing so, Australia became the first successful challenger in the 132 years since the schooner America won a race round the Isle of Wight in 1851, inaugurating the America’s Cup.
The races had taken place off Newport, Rhode Island, and were televised in Australia, with this final race taking place in the early hours of 27 September, Australian time. A report in Melbourne’s newspaper, The Age, published later that day, summarised the event. Wearing a flamboyant jacket decorated with Australian’s green and gold colours, Hawke was the centre of attention. ‘Millions stayed up to watch, and the victory was seen and celebrated across the country. Bob Hawke, showered in champagne at the Royal Perth Yacht Club in the early hours, laughingly declared a national holiday … “We’d be a nation of zombies anyway”, he said. After fending off repeated questioning by journalists about whether he would declare a public holiday he admitted this was a state matter and outside his power as Prime Minister. He joked that he thought it should be and that any state Premiers who disagreed with him might “find themselves in a spot of bother”. To rapturous laughter and applause, he said with finality “Any boss who sacks a worker for not turning up today is a bum.”’ Somehow that final comment captured both the moment and the man.
I only met Bob Hawke once, when I was working for a Coomonwewalth statutory authority. A reception had been organised for ethnic community leaders at Melbourne’s old Customs House, (now the Museum of Immigration). As Director of the Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs, I was there with some board members as well as several other friends and people I’d worked with. One of the board members took me over to be introduced to Prime Minister Hawke. I doubt that he knew who I was or had even been briefed on the role of the Institute. The meeting was surreally brief. He looked at me, and while being introduced, he saw someone he wanted to talk to behind me and left. We never exchanged a word! It was an occasion for me to remember, both for the moment and for the man.
To this day, the Silver Bodgie remains the ALP’s longest serving leader, and third among Prime Ministers for his time in office (behind Robert Menzies and John Howard). Colourful, he was the epitome of an Australian character, loved by many, and a hero to others, but I could never get past his style and behaviour. In his later years, he was said to have been involved in sleazy deals and dubious friendships. Perhaps he had, but for certain he does represent much of what’s true of Australia: a sports mad larrikin, a great communicator, and, to steal a friend’s line, a man with a heart as wide as the country, and as shallow as a puddle.
