Latest Bob Hawke Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• [Malcolm Fraser] went straight from Melbourne Grammar to Oxford. And he would have been a very lonely person, and I think he probably met a lot of black students there who were also probably lonely. I think he formed friendships with them, which established his judgement about the question of colour. That’s my theory. I don’t know whether it’s right or not, but that’s what I always respected about Malcolm. He was absolutely, totally impeccable on the question of race and colour.

  Bob Hawke

  Lonely, Thinking, Race

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• All the arguments there are against Malcolm [Turnbull] - and there are many - the one thing in which he is impeccable and why I would support him in this is that he has an absolutely impeccable record on the question of colour and race. People often wondered why. What I see as a possible explanation is [that] he came from a very wealthy family - a 'squattocracy' - and he had private education at home and then he went to boarding school at Melbourne Grammar School, one of those lead schools in Australia.

  Bob Hawke

  Home, School, Race

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• I had a good personal relationship with Lee Kuan Yew and I used him, in the sense, that he... He made a statement in 1980, and he said in that statement that, "If Australia keeps going the way it is, it will finish up the poor, white trash of Asia." And he was right, because we were just going backwards.

  Bob Hawke

  White, Australia, Yew

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• Don't talk to me about what's happened since [Nelson] Mandela! His successor was absolutely hopeless - "no such thing as AIDS" - and this present President... It's a tragedy, you know, what's happened there post-Mandela, because he was an iconic figure.

  Bob Hawke

  Tragedy, President, Hopeless

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• The personality of the Queen [ Elizabeth II]... For instance, once she goes - if she's ever going to die, it seems to be questionable - if Charles [of Wales] were there, whether there'd be the same sort of cement is very questionable, I think.

  Bob Hawke

  Queens, Thinking, Personality

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• Institutions do live on their history.

  Bob Hawke

  Institutions

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• It [also] lives on its history, now, to some extent: its achievements [ of the Commonwealth] in Rhodesia and South Africa, which were enormous. And they'll live on that for some time, I guess. And there is still - I'm out of touch with it now, of course - but I still think there is a degree of cooperation at the economic level, to some extent, with the more developed countries helping the less developed. How substantial that is now, I simply am not versed.

  Bob Hawke

  Country, Thinking, Achievement

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• [ Elizabeth II] has immersed herself, in the sense [that] she can speak intelligently about any and all members of the Commonwealth and she has played a role.

  Bob Hawke

  Roles, Speak, Members

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• There is a reciprocal respect for [ Elizabeth II], for her interest in the Commonwealth. The members of the Commonwealth recognise that here is a genuine interest from the top. So, that's one reason. I'm not putting it necessarily in order of importance.

  Bob Hawke

  Order, Reason, Genuine

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• She [ Elizabeth II] is, you know, "Do-what-you're-told, Lady". But in the Commonwealth, she is much more than just a figurehead.

  Bob Hawke

  Old Lady, Elizabeth Ii, Commonwealth

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• I think there are a number of reasons, not least of which is the personality of the Queen [ Elizabeth II]. It's very easy to underrate her significance. I think she finds the Commonwealth and her position as Head of the Commonwealth infinitely more interesting than being the Queen of England, because she has no significant role in the latter.

  Bob Hawke

  Queens, Thinking, Numbers

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• Bill Heseltine had been at university with me, at the University of Western Australia. I knew him well.

  Bob Hawke

  Australia, Bills, Wells

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• One of the features of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings was [that] she [ Elizabeth II] would have a meeting with each of them. You'd have an allotted time.

  Bob Hawke

  Government, Meetings, Elizabeth Ii

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• One other thing: at the meeting in Canada, [there was] the coup in Fiji. This comes to an important part of the Commonwealth: the role of the Queen [Elizabeth II]. I had absolutely just enormous respect for her as leader of the Commonwealth. You could talk to her about any of the fifty-one countries of the Commonwealth and you could have an intelligent conversation with her about the economics, the politics. She really immersed herself in the Commonwealth.

  Bob Hawke

  Country, Queens, Intelligent

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• It had things that it could do and which I thought were worthwhile: one would be South Africa, of course. And, as I said, I assumed a leadership role within the Commonwealth on that.

  Bob Hawke

  Would Be, Roles, Worthwhile

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• George Bush Junior [George W Bush] was a religious fanatic, and Tony Blair wasn't far behind in a way.

  Bob Hawke

  Religious, Juniors, Way

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• I wrote a letter to our Australian newspaper about three weeks before the invasion and I said, "Osama bin Laden must be on his knees morning and night praying to Allah that the Americans will invade." And, of course, he was, because nothing more advanced his cause - the cause of terrorism - than the invasion of Iraq. It was an absurdity.

  Bob Hawke

  Morning, Night, Iraq

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• [John Howard] led the Government. They had the numbers, and just basically automatically went along with the Americans.

  Bob Hawke

  Government, Numbers

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• When George Bush Senior [George HW Bush] was getting his alliance together to go into Iraq - to kick the Iraqis out of Kuwait - he rang me up. I was very close to George Bush Senior; I got to know him well as Vice President to Ronald Reagan. And George rang me up and said, "Oh, Bob," he said, "I'm having trouble with Brian [Mulroney]." He said, "He's got a big wheat trade with Iraq, and he doesn't want to upset that." I said, "You leave it with me."

  Bob Hawke

  Senior, Kuwait, Iraq

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• I rang Brian [Mulroney] up. I said, "What's this bloody nonsense. You've got a wheat trade with Iraq and you won't come aboard?" I said, "We've got a bloody big wheat trade too, so get your priorities right." And he said, "Okay, Bob. I'll come." I rang George and he was very appreciative.

  Bob Hawke

  Iraq, Priorities, Bob

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• I had a very close relationship with [Brian] Mulroney.

  Bob Hawke

  Brian, Close Relationship

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• I really had very little to do with Pierre Trudeau. He was off the scene very soon.

  Bob Hawke

  Littles, Scene

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• It was Indira Gandhi who very much lined up with the Russians. And she was, you know, within the Commonwealth, basically one out on that. The first meeting in 1983 was held in India and I was very off put by her. I just couldn't abide her, basically.

  Bob Hawke

  Firsts, India, Commonwealth

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• I told [ David Lange] he was crazy, because you can't have an alliance relationship if you refuse access to their ships. And the Americans wanted to punish him very severely and I intervened there and softened them somewhat. They wanted to really take some tough, reactive measures to New Zealand.

  Bob Hawke

  Crazy, Alliances, Ships

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

• I had no time for Indira Gandhi. She was too much in the Russian camp for my liking.

  Bob Hawke

  Too Much, Camps

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org