Reworking the workplace Loading Mr Hawke, the great dealmaker, brought the nation’s powerful unions and big employers around the table earlier in his tenure as prime minister to nut out an end to the industrial warfare that had kept Australia’s economy mired in an outdated era. His much-vaunted "accord" traded off restrictions in wage demands for a government pledge to keep inflation and prices under control, and implement social services. The accord also saw the beginnings of compulsory superannuation. Mr Hawke's deal and other workplace reforms were the foundation of the industrial relations system we enjoy today.

A container ship brings us more stuff. Credit:Jessica Shapiro Bringing the world's stuff to Australia It’s hard to overstate the impact of this change these days, but if you’re enjoying driving your European or Japanese car, or looking good in your Chinese-manufactured fast fashion, then spare a thought for the man they called the Silver Bodgie. Before Mr Hawke slashed Australia’s previously trade-stifling tariffs to just 5 per cent, imported goods were mostly for the top-shelf consumer.

Reviving the fair go The Hawke-Keating emphasis on social welfare are often overlooked, but Hawke was huge on looking after society’s least fortunate. Between 1983 and 1996 Australia was one of the leading OECD countries in social expenditure growth, ramping up the spending by four per cent of GDP, against an average of around 2.5 per cent in comparable economies. In plain English, Mr Hawke’s focus on income support, education, health, public housing and child care, and a more progressive tax system meant that even with the vast wealth generated in the 1980s, Mr Hawke is regarded as having left Australia a fairer place than he found it. Bob Hawke with Kakadu National Park rangers in 1986. Credit:AAP

Looking after the land Loading Before Mr Hawke, governments in Australia did not see themselves as having much of a role to play in protecting the natural environment. But after Mr Hawke battled the Tasmanian government and won to stop the damming of the Franklin River, banned uranium mining in Jabiluka and hassled and hustled for the world heritage listing of Kakadu, things would never be the same. Mr Hawke's environmental efforts paved the way for the central plank of Commonwealth environmental legislation, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and a broader protection framework that forces governments to act as custodians of nature.

Whether they want to or not. Bob Hawke at a Canberra press conference in 1983. Credit:Peter Mayoh Anti-discrimination nation Your boss can’t discriminate against you these days on the grounds of gender, sexuality, race, disability religion or ethnicity. But before Mr Hawke came along, employers and other institutions could get away with all sorts.