TONY BLAIR, BEFORE NEOLIBERALISM WAS COOL:

Hawke's government, in which he and his treasurer, Paul Keating, forged a strong partnership, will be remembered for its reforming zeal and for modernising the Australian economy, including floating the Australian dollar, removing tariffs and modernising industrial awards.

The Accord, struck with the trade union movement in 1983, brought relative industrial harmony to Australia and allowed Hawke's government to rein in inflation, while transforming work practices and the economy.

The accord also delivered Australia's first compulsory superannuation scheme, after Hawke agreed with the unions that a 3% pay rise would instead be paid by employers as superannuation. The scheme was initially opposed by business but is now regarded as a landmark reform and delivers 9% in retirement savings to all workers.

In a statement Keating said the country was "much poorer" for Hawke's passing, praising the "morale framework" he brought to public life, representing working people and the country at large.

"He understood that imagination was central to policy-making and never lacked the courage to do what had to be done to turn that imagination into reality," Keating said.

"And that reality was the reformation of Australia's economy and society and its place in the world."

Hawke's government also introduced significant social reforms including reintroducing universal health care, rebadged as Medicare, lifting school retention rates and expanding youth skills programs and ending poverty traps inherent in the social security system.

Early in his term Hawke halted the Franklin dam in Tasmania, saving wilderness areas from destruction. He went on to deal with other difficult environmental challenges, such as preserving old-growth forests.

However, Hawke's willingness to compromise and accommodate business interests as prime minister earned him criticism from his former union colleagues, particularly when he embarked on a program of privatising government assets and sided with the airlines during a pilot's strike.

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