Editing Paul Keating (section)

===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>