Paul Keating and John Howard are the two living transformational shapers of postwar Australia. Before their time in office, the country was over-regulated, protected, insular and even fearful about the outside world. After them, it was an outward-looking, export-driven, cosmopolitan, liberalised G20 middle power.

Two long, revealing interviews in Friday’s The Australian Financial Review Magazine Platinum 70 Year edition show how much Mr Keating and Mr Howard bookend each other.