I felt completely ready to become prime minister. I came to office better equipped, in terms of knowledge of economics and of the Australian economy, than anyone before me, or since, I would say. Bob Hawke More Quotes by Bob Hawke More Quotes From Bob Hawke The things which are most important don’t always scream the loudest. Bob Hawke scream important By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty. Bob Hawke australian poverty children The essence of power is the knowledge that what you do is going to have an effect not just an immediate but perhaps a lifelong effect on the happiness and wellbeing of millions of people and so I think the essence of power is to be conscious of what it can mean for others. Bob Hawke leadership mean thinking Do you know why I have credibility? Because I don't exude morality. Bob Hawke morality credibility knows I just loved him and he loved me... He was a most humble man, the most decent man I've ever met in my life and he always looked for the best in people to find positives and he said something to me that always remained with me. He said if you believe in the fatherhood of God you must necessarily believe in the brotherhood of man, it follows necessarily and even though I left the church and was not religious, that truth remained with me. Bob Hawke religious love believe I find a fence a very uncomfortable place to squat my bottom. Bob Hawke squat uncomfortable fence In sum, the truth is that we luxuriate in the comfortable assertion that women enjoy equality. We have salved our consciences by eliminating the more obvious discriminations like unequal rates of pay for work of equal value. But, in fact, we have not eliminated the inheritance of the millennia that women are lesser beings, an inheritance which still manifests itself in a whole range of prejudice and other forms of discrimination. Bob Hawke prejudice leadership facts The world will not wait for us. Bob Hawke leadership waiting world My point was that the war was intrinsically wrong, and as a result of our participation we haven't improved Australia's security but created a greater danger at home and abroad. Bob Hawke australia home war I think it is just stupid economics for a government to approach economic management from a strand of thinking regarding unions as enemies. Bob Hawke government stupid thinking Unless and until something concrete is done about addressing the Israeli-Palestinian issue you won't get a real start on the war against terrorism. Bob Hawke issues real war We will not allow to become a political issue in this country the question of Asianisation. Bob Hawke issues political country [Malcolm Fraser] went straight from Melbourne Grammar to Oxford. And he would have been a very lonely person, and I think he probably met a lot of black students there who were also probably lonely. I think he formed friendships with them, which established his judgement about the question of colour. That’s my theory. I don’t know whether it’s right or not, but that’s what I always respected about Malcolm. He was absolutely, totally impeccable on the question of race and colour. Bob Hawke lonely race thinking While society cannot provide employment for its members, the production/work/income nexus has to be abandoned as a justification for our present parsimony to the unemployed. An assumption cannot be used to justify making second-class citizens of those who are unfortunate enough to constitute living proof of the inaccuracy of that assumption. Bob Hawke income leadership class I really had very little to do with Pierre Trudeau. He was off the scene very soon. Bob Hawke scene littles In fact, soon after that [South African sanctions], I was going on an official visit to the UK and Margaret Thatcher instructed every minister to clear the decks of any outstanding matters between us - Australia and the Brits. And she went out of her way to make sure that that was as successful a visit as it possibly could be. Bob Hawke australia successful matter We were great mates [with Rajiv Gandhi]: very, very, very close friends. In fact, on my visit to India as Prime Minister, we were going to his home for dinner. There were two aspects I remember: one is him saying how he had trouble with his security people, because they insisted he wears a vest. He said it was very uncomfortable and he often took it off, but of course, in the end, it wouldn't have mattered if he'd been wearing three vests - he would have been gone. Bob Hawke home two people I hated [Robert Mugabe]. He's one of the worst human beings I've ever met. He treated black and white with equal contempt. He was a horrible human being. Bob Hawke mugabe mets black-and-white I had a good personal relationship with Lee Kuan Yew and I used him, in the sense, that he... He made a statement in 1980, and he said in that statement that, "If Australia keeps going the way it is, it will finish up the poor, white trash of Asia." And he was right, because we were just going backwards. Bob Hawke yew australia white I can't speak with authority about Emeka Anyaoku. I just didn't know him that well. Bob Hawke wells speak authority
