Wills MPs remember former PM Bob Hawke
The men who followed in Bob Hawke’s footsteps in the Melbourne seat of Wills have shared their memories of a leader equally at ease with dignitaries, in the rooms after a Coburg premiership or celebrating a 95th birthday.
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Whether it was with a football coach, a 95-year-old on her birthday or a superpower’s president, former prime minister Bob Hawke’s greatest skill was his ability to connect with anybody, say the two men who succeeded him in his Federal seat.
Mr Hawke died in his Sydney home on Thursday, age 89.
Mr Hawke had held the seat of Wills for the Labor Party for more than 11 years from 1980 and was prime minister for eight years from 1983.
Coburg Football Club legend Phil Cleary replaced Mr Hawke in Wills as an independent after he quit politics in 1992.
But it was at a grand final three years earlier that is Mr Cleary’s strongest memory of the legendary politician, who was also Coburg’s number one ticket holder at the time.
Mr Cleary said he referred to the loss of his sister Vicki, who was murdered the previous year as he spoke to the players before Coburg took on Williamstown at Windy Hill in the VFA decider.
“(Mr Hawke) was the prime minister of course and he came and stood only a few metres from me when I addressed the players,” Mr Cleary said.
“After the game Hawke made his way through the throng of supporters celebrating the premiership and we chatted at close quarters amid the euphoria and I remember him saying, ‘Phil, the way you spoke before the game was so powerful, we should preselect you for the Labor Party’.
“You could not doubt Hawke’s capacity to enjoy people’s company and he revelled in that premiership.”
Kelvin Thomson won Wills back for the Labor Party from Mr Cleary in 1996 and represented the electorate for 20 years.
He said Mr Hawke had “multiple vocabularies” to talk to people from all walks of life, such as a 95-year-old woman celebrating her birthday in Coburg.
As a Victorian state MP, Mr Thomson, joined the then prime minister in talking to the woman when Mr Hawke discovered she, like him, had grown up in Perth.
“I was a young bloke in my 30s thinking, ‘what am I going to talk to (the woman) about?’” Mr Thomson said.
“(Mr Hawke) said he went to school 500m down the road from her and he made that connection instantly and they started sharing their past.
“He was interested in people and able to establish a common point of interest so he could establish a conversation with people in all walks of life.”
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The last person to represent the electorate before Mr Hawke’s passing, incumbent Labor MP Peter Khalil posted a tribute to Facebook on Thursday night, writing that the Hawke government’s policies helped his migrant family find opportunity in Australia.
“I loved him — last time I caught up with him (for a beer on his back veranda) I told him ‘Bob the Australian people will never love a Prime Minister as much as they loved you’,” Mr Khalil wrote.
“He liked that so much — he invited me to play a round of golf with him.”
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