Bob Hawke

Hon. Bob Hawke
23rd Prime Minister of Australia
In office 11 March 1983 – 20 December 1991
Preceded by	Malcolm Fraser
Succeeded by	Paul Keating
Constituency	Wills (Victoria)
Personal details
Born	9 December 1929 (1929-12-09) Bordertown, South Australia
Political party	Labor
Spouse(s)	Hazel Masterson (m.1956–95) Blanche d'Alpuget (m. 1995–present)

Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke (born 9 December 1929) was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia as leader of the Australian Labor Party. He was the third longest serving Prime Minister of Australia.

He was a union leader before he entered parliament in 1980. He became leader only a little while before the 1983 election but he defeated Malcolm Fraser. His government made many changes, like the Whitlam government, but did it more slowly and with more planning. His government moved Labor to the right economically. His leadership was challenged twice by Paul Keating. He lost the second time and retired.

Hawke has been married twice. During office, he was married to Hazel Hawke née Masterson, a respected "first lady". Just before Hawke became prime minister, author Blanche d’Alpuget wrote a biography about him. Hawke married D'Alpuget in 1995.

By July 1990, Hawke had overtaken Malcolm Fraser as the second longest-serving Australian Prime Minister but on 21 December 2004 the record was overtaken by John Howard, making Hawke the third longest serving Prime Minister