Researching Paul Keating

Keating was born in Sydney and left school at the age of 14. He joined the Labor Party at the same age, serving a term as State President of Young Labor and working as a research assistant for a trade union. He was elected to the Australian House of Representatives at the age of 25, winning the division of Blaxland at the 1969 election. Keating briefly served as Minister for Northern Australia from October to November 1975 in the final weeks of the Whitlam Government. After Labor lost power, he held senior portfolios in the Shadow Cabinets of Gough Whitlam and Bill Hayden. During this time he came to be seen as the leader of the Labor Right faction, and developed a reputation as a talented and fierce parliamentary performer.

After Labor's landslide victory at the 1983 election, Keating was appointed Treasurer by prime minister Bob Hawke. The pair developed a powerful political partnership, overseeing significant reforms intended to liberalise and strengthen the Australian economy. These included the Prices and Incomes Accord, the float of the Australian dollar, the elimination of tariffs, the deregulation of the financial sector, achieving the first federal budget surplus in Australian history, and reform of the taxation system, including the introduction of capital gains tax, fringe benefits tax, and dividend imputation. Keating became Deputy Prime Minister in 1990, but in June 1991 he resigned from the Government to unsuccessfully challenge Hawke for the leadership, believing he had reneged on the Kirribilli Agreement. He mounted a second successful challenge six months later, and became prime minister.

Keating was appointed prime minister in the aftermath of an early 1990s economic downturn he had famously described as "the recession we had to have". This, combined with poor opinion polling, led many to predict Labor was certain to lose the 1993 election, but Keating fought a strong campaign and managed to increase the Government's majority. The Keating Government enacted the landmark Native Title Act to enshrine Indigenous land rights, introduced compulsory superannuation and enterprise bargaining, created a national infrastructure development program, privatised Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank, established the APEC leaders' meeting, and promoted republicanism by establishing the Republic Advisory Committee.

At the 1996 election, after 13 years in office, Labor suffered a landslide defeat to the Liberal–National Coalition led by John Howard. Keating retired from Parliament shortly after the election, but has since remained active as a political commentator, whilst maintaining a broad series of business interests, including serving on the international board of the China Development Bank. Since leaving office, Keating received broad praise from historians and commentators for his role in modernising the Australian economy as treasurer, while reviews of his period as prime minister have been more mixed.