Editing Paul Keating (section)

==Treasurer of Australia==
{{Further|Hawke government}}
===Early days===
Following Labor's victory in the 1983 election, Keating was appointed [[Treasurer of Australia]] by Prime Minister [[Bob Hawke]]; he succeeded [[John Howard]] in the position.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ministers.treasury.gov.au/AllMinisters.aspx |title=Past Treasury Ministers |work=The Treasury |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Australia]] |year=2013 |access-date=19 September 2013 |archive-date=17 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917180416/http://ministers.treasury.gov.au/AllMinisters.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> He and Hawke were able to use the size of the budget deficit that the [[Hawke government]] had inherited from the [[Fraser government]] to question the economic credibility of the [[Coalition (Australia)|Liberal-National Coalition]] over the coming years.<ref name="Hawke-1994">{{cite book|title=The Hawke Memoirs|first=Bob|last=Hawke|authorlink=Bob Hawke|publisher=William Heinemann Australia|date=1994|page=148}}</ref> According to Hawke, the historically large $9.6&nbsp;billion budget deficit left by the Coalition "became a stick with which we were justifiably able to beat the Opposition".<ref name="Hawke-1994"/> Although Howard was widely regarded at this time as being "discredited" by the hidden deficit, he had in fact argued unsuccessfully against Fraser that the revised figures should be disclosed before the election.<ref>{{cite book|title=John Winston Howard: The Biography|first1=Wayne|last1=Errington|first2=Peter|last2=Van Onselen|publisher=Melbourne University Press|date=2007}}</ref>

In the ensuing years, Hawke and Keating developed an extremely powerful partnership, which proved to be essential to Labor's success in government; multiple Labor figures in years since have cited the partnership between the two as the party's greatest ever.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansards/79f1fe78-5449-42d1-be9b-3f40736f1a19/&sid=0004|title=Hansard Display|website=Aph.gov.au|access-date=23 September 2020|archive-date=27 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027134521/https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansards/79f1fe78-5449-42d1-be9b-3f40736f1a19/&sid=0004|url-status=live}}</ref> The two men proved a study in contrasts: Hawke was a Rhodes Scholar; Keating left high school early.<ref>{{cite book|title=Keating: The Inside Story|first=John|last=Edwards|publisher=Viking|date=1996|page=44}}</ref> Hawke's enthusiasms were cigars, betting and most forms of sport; Keating preferred [[classical architecture]], [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]] symphonies and collecting [[British Regency]] and [[First French Empire|French Empire]] antiques.<ref>{{cite book|title=Keating: The Inside Story|first=John|last=Edwards|publisher=Viking|date=1996|page=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Keating: The Inside Story|first=John|last=Edwards|publisher=Viking|date=1996|page=48}}</ref> Despite not knowing one another before Hawke assumed the leadership in 1983, the two formed a personal as well as political relationship which enabled the Government to pursue a significant number of reforms, although there were occasional points of tension between the two.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/bob-hawke-memorial-paul-keating-leads-mourners-20190614-p51xpi|title=Hawke memorial: Keating on a friendship that lasted to the end|website=Afr.com|date=14 June 2019|access-date=23 September 2020|archive-date=1 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201105902/https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/bob-hawke-memorial-paul-keating-leads-mourners-20190614-p51xpi|url-status=live}}</ref>

Keating, along with Hawke, oversaw a "National Economic Summit" in their first month in office, with Keating leading several sessions outlining the Government's economic agenda. The Summit, which brought together a significant number of senior business and industrial figures alongside trade union leaders and politicians, led to a unanimous adoption of a national economic strategy, generating sufficient political capital for the Government to begin a wide-ranging programme of economic reform previously resisted by much of the Labor Party.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3400566.htm|title=Hawke: 1983 National Economic Summit established success|website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=2 January 2012|access-date=23 September 2020|archive-date=29 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329090328/https://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3400566.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Macroeconomic reforms===
[[File:ABC Dollar Float.ogv|thumb|right|[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] report on the first day of trading with a floating Australian dollar]]
Keating used the authority and relative autonomy provided to him by Hawke to become one of the major driving forces behind the various extensive [[macroeconomic]] reforms of the Government.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cart Before the Horse? Australian Exchange Rate Policy and Economic Reform in the 1980s|first=Kieron|last=Toner|publisher=Earlybrave Publications|date=2000}}</ref> In December 1983, Hawke and Keating approved the [[Floating exchange rate|floating]] of the [[Australian dollar]], disregarding advice from the [[Department of the Treasury (Australia)|Treasury Secretary]] [[John Stone (Australian politician)|John Stone]] to retain the fixed currency framework.<ref>{{cite news|title=The dollar floats free|work=[[The Age]]|first1=Russell|last1=Barton|first2=Simon|last2=Holberton|date=10 December 1983|page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Why we had to float the dollar|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=10 December 1983|page=12}}</ref> The success of the move, which was lauded by economic and media commentators, gave confidence to Keating to pursue even more reforms.<ref>{{cite news|title=Keen observers of the dollar's float|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|first=J.N.|last=Pierce|date=15 December 1983|page=15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-27/jericho-floating-the-dollar-was-worth-the-pain/5118028|title=Floating the dollar was worth the pain|work=[[ABC News (Australia)]]|first=Greg|last=Jericho|date=28 November 2013|access-date=1 December 2013|archive-date=1 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131201071505/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-27/jericho-floating-the-dollar-was-worth-the-pain/5118028|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/the-long-road-that-led-to-the-floating-of-the-australian-dollar-20141121-11ra30|title=The long road that led to the floating of the Australian dollar|work=[[Australian Financial Review]]|first=Selwyn|last=Cornish|date=21 November 2014|access-date=27 November 2014|archive-date=16 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191116185737/https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/the-long-road-that-led-to-the-floating-of-the-australian-dollar-20141121-11ra30|url-status=live}}</ref> Over the Hawke government's first and second terms, Keating oversaw the gradual elimination of [[tariff]]s on imports,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-day-that-protectionism-died-in-australia-20031206-gdwvtc.html|title=The day that protectionism died in Australia|newspaper=[[The Age]]|date=6 December 2003|access-date=12 January 2014|archive-date=23 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323200439/http://www.theage.com.au/national/the-day-that-protectionism-died-in-australia-20031206-gdwvtc.html|url-status=live}}</ref> the privatisation of several state-owned companies such as [[Qantas]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/cabinet-archives-199293-keatings-department-wanted-to-sell-royal-australian-mint-20161228-gtirvw.html|title=Cabinet archives 1992-93: Paul Keating's department wanted to sell Royal Australian Mint|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|first=Markus|last=Mannheim|date=1 January 2017|access-date=3 January 2017|archive-date=16 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916125527/https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/cabinet-archives-199293-keatings-department-wanted-to-sell-royal-australian-mint-20161228-gtirvw.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[CSL Limited]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DP4_8.pdf|title=The privatisation of CSL Limited|publisher=[[The Australia Institute]]|first1=Clive|last1=Hamilton|first2=John|last2=Quiggin|date=June 1995|access-date=16 September 2021|archive-date=20 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220003336/https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DP4_8.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[Commonwealth Bank]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Otchere|first1=Isaac|last2=Chan|first2=Janus|date=2003|title=Intra-industry effects of bank privatization: A clinical analysis of the privatization of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia|journal=Journal of Banking & Finance|volume=27|issue=5|pages=949–975|doi=10.1016/S0378-4266(02)00242-X}}</ref> the deregulation of significant sections of the banking system (including allowing for numerous foreign-owned banks to begin operating in Australia for the first time) and the granting of autonomy on decision-making to the [[Reserve Bank of Australia]].

Keating was also instrumental in establishing the Hawke government's signature industrial relations and wages policy, the [[Prices and Incomes Accord]]. This was an agreement directly between the [[Australian Council of Trade Unions]] (ACTU) and the Government to guarantee a reduction in demands for wage increases, in exchange for the Government providing a significant increase in social programmes, including the introduction of [[Medicare (Australia)|Medicare]] and the Family Assistance Scheme; in so doing, the Government was able to reduce inflation and unemployment over the decade.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Hawke government: A Critical Retrospective|first1=Susan|last1=Ryan|first2=Troy|last2=Bramston|publisher=Pluto Press Australia|date=2003}}</ref> Keating's management of the Accord, and the close working relationship he developed with ACTU Secretary [[Bill Kelty]], became a source of significant political power for Keating, who negotiated multiple versions of the Accord with Kelty throughout the Hawke government. Through the power given to him, Keating was often able to bypass the Cabinet altogether, notably in exercising monetary policy, and he was regularly referred to as "the most powerful Treasurer in modern times".<ref name="Kelly-1994">{{cite book|last=Kelly|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Kelly (journalist)|title=The End of Certainty: Power, Politics, and Business in Australia|year=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKXBgmYeO2QC|access-date=5 October 2007|publisher=[[Allen & Unwin]]|isbn=1-86373-757-X|archive-date=20 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220054908/https://books.google.com/books?id=EKXBgmYeO2QC|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the wake of the raft of macroeconomic reforms introduced by Keating throughout the first term of the Hawke government in particular, in 1984 he was awarded the [[Euromoney Finance Minister of the Year]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.europeanspeakers.com/orateurs-keating.htm |title=SPEAKER ORATEUR: HON. PAUL J KEATING |publisher=European Speakers Bureau |access-date=2007-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205013103/http://www.europeanspeakers.com//orateurs-keating.htm |archive-date=2008-12-05 |url-status=dead}}</ref> an award which became colloquially known in Australia as the "World's Greatest Treasurer", becoming the first Australian treasurer to be presented with the award.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/business/let-the-gongs-sound-for-the-worlds-greatest-treasurer-20090615-casq.html|title=Let the gongs sound for the world's greatest treasurer|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|first=Alex|last=Millmow|date=16 June 2009|access-date=12 July 2012|archive-date=16 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916125527/https://www.smh.com.au/business/let-the-gongs-sound-for-the-worlds-greatest-treasurer-20090615-casq.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Microeconomic reforms===
[[File:Jean-Claude Paye and Paul Keating.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Keating with [[OECD]] Secretary-General [[Jean-Claude Paye (OECD)|Jean-Claude Paye]], 1985]]
Throughout the second and third terms of the Hawke government, Keating led a significant overhaul of the long-stagnant [[Australian taxation|Australian taxation system]]. In 1985, he became a passionate advocate within the Cabinet for the introduction of a [[Consumption tax|broad-based consumption tax]], similar in nature to the [[Goods and Services Tax (Australia)|goods and services tax]] that was later introduced by the [[Howard government]], as a means of addressing Australia's chronic balance of payments issue.<ref>{{cite book|last=Eccleston|first=Richard|title=Taxing reforms: the politics of the consumption tax in Japan, the United States, Canada and Australia|year=2007|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|page=202|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wh-tt6G2lEYC|isbn=9781782543404|access-date=24 September 2016|archive-date=20 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220054904/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wh-tt6G2lEYC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Malone|first=Paul|title=Australian Department Heads Under Howard&nbsp;– Career Paths and Practice|publisher=ANU Press|year=2006|page=136|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zi2Q5Dq_lQgC|isbn=9781920942830|access-date=24 September 2016|archive-date=20 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220054909/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zi2Q5Dq_lQgC|url-status=live}}</ref> In the build-up to the [[1984 Australian federal election|1984 election]], Hawke promised a policy paper on taxation reform to be discussed with all stakeholders at a "National Taxation Summit". Three options&nbsp;– A, B and C&nbsp;– were presented in the paper, with Keating and his Treasury colleagues fiercely advocating for C, which included a consumption tax of 15% on goods and services along with reductions in personal and company income tax, a fringe benefits tax and a capital gains tax. Although Keating was able to win the support of a reluctant Cabinet, Hawke believed that the opposition from the public, the ACTU, and the business community would be too great. He therefore decided to abandon any plans for a consumption tax, although the remainder of the reforms were adopted in the tax reform package. The loss of the consumption tax was seen a defeat for Keating; he later joked about it at a press conference, saying, "It's a bit like ''Ben Hur''. We've crossed the line with one wheel off, but we have crossed the line."<ref>{{cite book|last=D'Alpuget|first=Blanche|title=Hawke: The Prime Minister|publisher=Melbourne University Publishing|year=2011|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3dsFOaoDqv4C|isbn=9780522858518|access-date=24 September 2016|archive-date=20 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220054904/https://books.google.com/books?id=3dsFOaoDqv4C|url-status=live}}</ref>

Whilst the remainder of the package represented the biggest overhaul of the Australian taxation system for decades, Keating continued to agitate for further changes to address the balance of payments problems faced by Australia. On 14 May 1986, frustrated at the slow pace of dealing with the issue, he caused considerable public comment and a degree of controversy when he declared on a radio programme that if Australia did not address the problem, it risked degenerating to the status of a "[[banana republic]]".<ref name="Jericho-2014">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/31/cabinet-papers-show-paul-keating-had-a-budget-emergency-of-his-own |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |title=Cabinet papers show Paul Keating had a 'budget emergency' of his own |first=Greg |last=Jericho |date=1 January 2014 |access-date=23 September 2020 |archive-date=7 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107084205/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/31/cabinet-papers-show-paul-keating-had-a-budget-emergency-of-his-own |url-status=live }}</ref> Although the remark was quickly disowned by Hawke in public, the Government increased efforts to deal with the growing balance of payments crisis. With no consumption tax to generate a significant increase in incomings, Keating and his ministerial colleagues led a process to significantly reduce Government outlays instead, resulting in some criticism from the grassroots of the Labor Party, who opposed cuts to spending.<ref name="Jericho-2014"/> Despite the criticism, the Government was able to produce a national [[budget surplus]] for the years 1988, 1989 and 1990, with the surplus of 1988 proving to be the largest budget surplus in Australian history.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber/hansards/1987-09-17/0039;query=Id:%22chamber/hansards/1987-09-17/0087%22| title = Hansard| website = Parlinfo.aph.gov.au| access-date = 23 September 2020| archive-date = 20 February 2024| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240220054917/https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber/hansards/1987-09-17/0039;query=Id:%22chamber/hansards/1987-09-17/0087%22| url-status = live}}</ref>

During the campaign for the [[1987 Australian federal election|1987 election]], Keating was credited as dealing a "fatal" blow to the Liberal-National Coalition's hopes for victory, after giving a press conference in which he exposed a significant accounting error in the costings the Liberal Party had released to demonstrate how its economic policies would be paid for.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.crikey.com.au/2005/09/30/chess-john-howard-and-the-box-hill-town-hall/|title = Chess, John Howard and the Box Hill town hall|date = 30 September 2005|access-date = 23 September 2020|archive-date = 6 December 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201206021544/https://www.crikey.com.au/2005/09/30/chess-john-howard-and-the-box-hill-town-hall/|url-status = dead}}</ref> Then-Opposition Leader John Howard accepted the error, and subsequent opinion polling reported that the mistake greatly contributed to Labor's vote in what proved to be a landslide victory.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hawke savours the glory of victory|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|first=Peter|last=Bowers|date=12 July 1987|page=3}}</ref>

Keating's later tenure as treasurer was heavily criticised by some for consistently high interest rates, which he argued was necessary to reduce economic growth gradually so that demand for imports did not grow out of control. Throughout the 1980s, both the global and Australian economies grew quickly, and by the late 1980s, inflation had grown to around 9%. By 1988, the Reserve Bank of Australia began tightening monetary policy, and household interest rates peaked at 18%. It is often said that the bank was too slow in easing monetary policy, and that this ultimately led to a recession. In private, Keating had argued for rates to rise earlier than they did, and fall sooner, although his view was at odds with the Reserve Bank and his Treasury colleagues.<ref name="Kelly-1994" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/30/1093852180757.html |title=Keating still casts a shadow |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=31 August 2004 |access-date=25 April 2010 |archive-date=29 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629195802/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/30/1093852180757.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Publicly, Hawke and Keating had said there would be no recession&nbsp;– or that there would be a "soft landing"&nbsp;– but this changed when Keating announced the country was indeed in recession in 1990, several months after the Hawke government had won an unprecedented fourth consecutive term in office. Announcing the recession, Keating described it as a "recession Australia had to have". The remark was referred to by political journalist [[Paul Kelly (journalist)|Paul Kelly]] as "perhaps the most stupid remark of Keating's career, and it nearly cost him the Prime Ministership," though he said that, "...however, it is largely true that the boom begat the recession."<ref>{{cite news|author=McFarlane|first=Ian|date=2 December 2006|title=The real reasons why it was the 1990s recession we had to have|newspaper=The Age|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/the-real-reasons-why-it-was-the-1990s-recession-we-had-to-have/2006/12/01/1164777791623.html|url-status=dead|access-date=6 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402011541/http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/the-real-reasons-why-it-was-the-1990s-recession-we-had-to-have/2006/12/01/1164777791623.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2|archive-date=2 April 2016}}</ref>

The economic reform package throughout the 1980s has been claimed by numerous economic commentators and journalists to have been the basis for an unprecedentedly long period of economic growth, with Australia's [[gross domestic product]] increasing every year for 30 years, and the end of chronic inflation and balance of payments difficulties, along with the increasingly globalised domestic economy, enabling long periods of stability and growth.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2007/s1945485.htm |title=Paul Keating on the lead-up to the federal election |publisher=[[Lateline]]&nbsp;– [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] |date=7 June 2007 |access-date=15 July 2007 |archive-date=10 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070710230111/http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2007/s1945485.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/australias-economy-expands-strongly-in-2q-1536115061|title=Australia's record-breaking economic growth continues|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=4 September 2018|access-date=28 December 2018|archive-date=31 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231131850/https://www.wsj.com/articles/australias-economy-expands-strongly-in-2q-1536115061|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Leadership challenges===
At the end of 1988, Keating, who had long believed that he would succeed Hawke as prime minister, began to put pressure on Hawke to retire in the new year. Hawke rejected this advice, but reached a [[Kirribilli Agreement of 1988|secret agreement]] with Keating that he would remain as leader through to the [[1990 Australian federal election|1990 election]], and that he would resign in Keating's favour shortly after the election, which he convinced Keating he could win.<ref name="Kelly-1994" /> Hawke subsequently won that election, albeit narrowly, and appointed Keating his [[Deputy Prime Minister of Australia|deputy prime minister]] to replace the retiring [[Lionel Bowen]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/former-deputy-pm-lionel-bowen-dead-20120401-1w64w.html|title=Former deputy PM Lionel Bowen dead|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=1 April 2012|access-date=11 August 2017|archive-date=26 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226071827/http://www.smh.com.au/national/former-deputy-pm-lionel-bowen-dead-20120401-1w64w.html|url-status=live}}</ref> However, by the end of 1990, frustrated at the lack of any indication from Hawke as to when he might retire, Keating delivered a provocative speech questioning the direction of the government. As a result, Hawke told Keating he would renege on the deal on the basis that Keating had been publicly disloyal.<ref>{{cite news |title=True rivals |author=Gordon, Michael |date=16 July 2010 |url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/true-rivals-20100715-10cpx.html |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date=11 March 2018 |archive-date=12 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312022354/https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/true-rivals-20100715-10cpx.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although tensions between the two remained private for some time, Keating eventually resigned from the [[Cabinet of Australia|Cabinet]] in June 1991 and [[June 1991 Australian Labor Party leadership spill|challenged for the leadership]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Revelation of pact provided trigger|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|first=Michael|last=Millett|date=1 June 1991|page=2}}</ref> Hawke won the ballot by 66 votes to 44,<ref>{{cite news|title=Kerin takes over as Treasurer|work=[[The Age]]|first=Michelle|last=Grattan |author-link=Michelle Grattan |date=4 June 1991|page=1}}</ref> and in a press statement afterwards Keating declared that he had fired his "one shot" as regards the leadership.<ref>{{cite book|title=Keating: The Inside Story|first=John|last=Edwards|publisher=Viking|date=1996|page=435}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Keating: The Inside Story|first=John|last=Edwards|publisher=Viking|date=1996|page=438}}</ref> Publicly, at least, this seemed to spell the end of his leadership ambitions. Having failed to defeat Hawke, he realised that events would have to move very much in his favour for a second challenge to be even possible, and he strongly considered retiring from politics altogether.<ref>{{cite book|title=Keating: The Inside Story|first=John|last=Edwards|publisher=Viking|date=1996|page=439}}</ref> However, Hawke's leadership was regarded by many as being "wounded" as a result of losing his long-term political partner and the growing confidence of the Liberal-National Coalition under the new leadership of [[John Hewson]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Hawke Memoirs|first=Bob|last=Hawke|authorlink=Bob Hawke|publisher=William Heinemann Australia|date=1994|page=544}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Keating: The Inside Story|first=John|last=Edwards|publisher=Viking|date=1996|page=440}}</ref> After Hawke was forced to sack [[John Kerin]], the man appointed to replace Keating as treasurer, for a public gaffe in attempting to combat the Coalition's new '[[Fightback! (policy)|Fightback!]]' policy,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.crikey.com.au/2001/03/04/contribute-six-names-to-our-lists-and-win-a-free-crikey-sub/|title=Contribute six names to our lists and win a free Crikey sub|publisher=[[Crikey]]|date=4 March 2001|access-date=1 February 2019|archive-date=12 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612181000/https://www.crikey.com.au/2001/03/04/contribute-six-names-to-our-lists-and-win-a-free-crikey-sub/|url-status=live}}</ref> Keating took the opportunity to [[December 1991 Australian Labor Party leadership spill|challenge a second time]] in December 1991, this time emerging victorious by 56 votes to 51.<ref>{{cite news|title=Keating scrapes in|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|first=Peter|last=Hartcher|date=20 December 1991|page=1}}</ref> He paid tribute to Hawke's nine years as prime minister, and stated that he would provide a robust challenge to Hewson.<ref>{{cite book|title=Keating: The Inside Story|first=John|last=Edwards|publisher=Viking|date=1996|page=442}}</ref>