Editing Bob Hawke (section)

==Member of Parliament==
Hawke's first attempt to enter Parliament came during the [[1963 Australian federal election|1963 federal election]]. He stood in the seat of [[Division of Corio|Corio]] in [[Geelong]] and managed to achieve a 3.1% swing against the national trend, although he fell short of ousting longtime Liberal incumbent [[Hubert Opperman]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA LEGISLATIVE ELECTION OF 30 NOVEMBER 1963 |url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1963/1963repsvic.txt |website=psephos.adam-carr.net}}</ref> Hawke rejected several opportunities to enter Parliament throughout the 1970s, something he later wrote that he "regretted". He eventually stood for election to the [[House of Representatives (Australia)|House of Representatives]] at the [[1980 Australian federal election|1980 election]] for the safe [[Melbourne]] seat of [[Division of Wills|Wills]], winning it comfortably. Immediately upon his election to Parliament, Hawke was appointed to the [[Shadow Cabinet]] by Labor Leader [[Bill Hayden]] as Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations.<ref>Hurst, J., (1983), p. 262</ref>

Hayden, after having led the Labor Party to narrowly lose the 1980 election, was increasingly subject to criticism from Labor MPs over his leadership style. To quell speculation over his position, Hayden called a leadership spill on 16 July 1982, believing that if he won he would be guaranteed to lead Labor through to the next election.<ref>Kelly, P., (1992), p. 24</ref> Hawke decided to challenge Hayden in the spill, but Hayden defeated him by five votes; the margin of victory, however, was too slim to dispel doubts that he could lead the Labor Party to victory at an election.<ref>Hurst, J., (1983), p. 269</ref> Despite his defeat, Hawke began to agitate more seriously behind the scenes for a change in leadership, with opinion polls continuing to show that Hawke was a far more popular public figure than both Hayden and Prime Minister [[Malcolm Fraser]]. Hayden was further weakened after Labor's unexpectedly poor performance at a [[1982 Flinders by-election|by-election]] in December 1982 for the Victorian seat of [[Division of Flinders|Flinders]], following the resignation of the sitting member, former deputy Liberal leader [[Phillip Lynch]]. Labor needed a swing of 5.5% to win the seat and had been predicted by the media to win, but could only achieve 3%.<ref name="Hurst-1983b">Hurst, J., (1983), p. 270</ref>

Labor Party power-brokers, such as [[Graham Richardson]] and [[Barrie Unsworth]], now openly switched their allegiance from Hayden to Hawke.<ref name="Hurst-1983b"/> More significantly, Hayden's staunch friend and political ally, Labor's [[Australian Senate|Senate Leader]] [[John Button (Australian politician)|John Button]], had become convinced that Hawke's chances of victory at an election were greater than Hayden's. Initially, Hayden believed that he could remain in his job, but Button's defection proved to be the final straw in convincing Hayden that he would have to resign as Labor Leader.<ref name="Hurst-1984c">Hurst, J., (1983), p. 273</ref> Less than two months after the Flinders by-election result, Hayden announced his resignation as Leader of the Labor Party on 3 February 1983. Hawke was subsequently elected as Leader unopposed on 8 February,<ref name="NAA-2022" /> and became [[List of Australian Leaders of the Opposition|Leader of the Opposition]] in the process.<ref name="Hurst-1984c"/> Having learned that morning about the possible leadership change, on the same that Hawke assumed the leadership of the Labor Party, Malcolm Fraser called a [[1983 Australian federal election|snap election for 5 March 1983]], unsuccessfully attempting to prevent Labor from making the leadership change.<ref>Hurst, J., (1983), p. 275</ref> However, he was unable to have the [[Governor-General of Australia|Governor-General]] confirm the election before Labor announced the change.

At the 1983 election, Hawke led Labor to a landslide victory, achieving a 24-seat swing and ending seven years of [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal Party]] rule.

With the election called at the same time that Hawke became Labor leader this meant that Hawke never sat in Parliament as Leader of the Opposition having spent the entirety of his short Opposition leadership in the election campaign which he won.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-16/bob-hawke-former-prime-minister-dies-in-quotes/6514806|title=Bob Hawke on the America's Cup, booze, love and infidelity|newspaper=ABC News|date=16 May 2019|access-date=23 September 2021|archive-date=27 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927141100/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-16/bob-hawke-former-prime-minister-dies-in-quotes/6514806|url-status=live}}</ref>