“I could have been with my father’s business, the junior Chamber of Commerce and the Jaycees Club. I didn’t have to happen. But I did happen.” It’s Paul Keating speaking and the “happen” part relates to his role in the ’80s-‘90s transformation of the Australian economy from sclerotic to supple.

“I said over and over in the House of Representatives, as prime minister, as treasurer, and in interviews with the media, that I had given the country a new economic engine. The job I had was to repoint the raft at opportunity – to find our security in Asia, and not from Asia.”