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Geoffrey [Howe] and I were mates, and he disagreed with [ Margaret Thatcher] position. So, we cooperated surreptitiously.

Bob Hawke

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Bob Hawke
Age: 89 †
Born: 1929
Born: December 9
Died: 2019
Died: May 16
Former Prime Minister Of Australia
Politician
Trade Unionist
Union Organizer
Bordertown
South Australia
Australia
Robert James Lee Hawke
The Honourable Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee Bob Hawke
Margaret
Mates
Position
Geoffrey
Cooperated
Surreptitiously
Howe
Disagreed
Thatcher

More quotes by Bob Hawke

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We will not allow to become a political issue in this country the question of Asianisation.
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The things which are most important don’t always scream the loudest.
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I went along with it, and wanted to appoint a significant figure in Malcolm Fraser. I didn't have high hopes that they'd be able to do anything, but something was worth a try.
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By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty.
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Do you know why I have credibility? Because I don't exude morality.
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I don't know who described Mahathir [bin Mohamad] as a pillar of the Commonwealth, but they don't know what they're talking about.
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[ Rajiv Gandhi] was such an infinitely more attractive leader than his mother.
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We [ with Brian Mulroney and Rajiv Gandhi] went to the meeting in Canada [the 1987 Vancouver CHOGM] and I said to them there that sanctions weren't working they were just being busted. And it did seem to me that one way that we could bring the apartheid regime down would be if we did mount an effective investment sanction.
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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.
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Peoples have come to experience that political structures and divisions of power are not immutable. Nor will they perceive the distribution of wealth and resources between nations to be unalterably ordained by heaven and incapable of drastic rearrangement by the less than gentle manipulation of man.
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In fact, soon after that [South African sanctions], I was going on an official visit to the UK and Margaret Thatcher instructed every minister to clear the decks of any outstanding matters between us - Australia and the Brits. And she went out of her way to make sure that that was as successful a visit as it possibly could be.
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Brian Mulroney, myself, [and] Rajiv Gandhi I think that was the real core [of the Commonwealth ]. That was the engine room, I reckon.
Bob Hawke
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My point was that the war was intrinsically wrong, and as a result of our participation we haven't improved Australia's security but created a greater danger at home and abroad.
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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.
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As far as we're concerned, there was no sporting organisation [that] should have anything to do with the sport in South Africa.
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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
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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.
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I respected [Margaret Thatcher] enormously. She had great integrity in that respect.
Bob Hawke
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I had no time for Indira Gandhi. She was too much in the Russian camp for my liking.
Bob Hawke
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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