Bill Hayden

Infobox Governor-General
honorific-prefix = The Honourable
name=Bill Hayden
honorific-suffix =
AC


caption=
order=21st Governor-General of Australia
term_start=16 February 1989
term_end=16 February 1996
monarch= Elizabeth II
predecessor=Sir Ninian Stephen
successor=Sir William Deane
birth_date=Birth date and age|1933|1|23|df=y
birth_place=Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
death_date=
death_place=
spouse=
profession= Politician
religion= Raised as a Roman Catholic
Atheist as an adult

William George Hayden, AC (born 23 January 1933) was the 21st Governor-General of Australia. Prior to this, he represented the Australian Labor Party in parliament; he was a minister in the government of Gough Whitlam, and later became Leader of the Opposition, narrowly losing the 1980 federal election to the Malcolm Fraser-led Liberal Party of Australia.

Early life

Bill Hayden was born in Ipswich, Queensland, the son of an American-born sailor of Irish descent. He was educated at Brisbane State High School and served in the Queensland Police Force from 1953 to 1961. [cite web
title =Bill Hayden, former Australian Governor-General
work =Alumni
publisher =University of Queensland
url =http://www.alumni.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=285
accessdate = 2007-05-26 ] He furthered his education through private study, completing an economics degree at the University of Queensland. Prior to the 1970s he was a self-described democratic socialist. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/saturdayextra/stories/2005/1498213.htm Interview: Bill Hayden on the Dismissal - 30 years later] , Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 5 November, 2005.]

Politics

He became active in the Labor Party, and in the 1961 federal election he surprised everyone, including himself, by winning the House of Representatives seat of Oxley, defeating Donald Alastair Cameron, the Minister for Health in the Menzies Liberal government.

Hayden was a diligent member of parliament and in 1969 he was elected to the Opposition front bench. When Labor under Gough Whitlam won the 1972 election, Hayden became Minister for Social Security, and in that capacity introduced Medibank, Australia's first system of universal health insurance. In June 1975 he succeeded Jim Cairns as Treasurer (finance minister), a position he held until the Whitlam Government was dismissed by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, on 11 November 1975.

When Labor lost the 1977 election, Whitlam retired as leader and Hayden was elected to succeed him. His political views had shifted to the centre, and he advocated economic policies which favoured the private sector and supported the American alliance. At the 1980 elections he improved Labor's position but narrowly failed to defeat Malcolm Fraser's Liberal government. At this election the popular union leader Bob Hawke, known to harbour leadership ambitions, was elected to Parliament.

By 1982 it was clearPOV-statement|date=August 2008 that Fraser was manoeuvring to call an early election, and Hawke began mobilising his supporters to challenge Hayden's leadership. On 16 July Hayden narrowly defeated Hawke's challenge in a party ballot, but Hawke continued to plot against HaydenFact|date=August 2008. In December Labor failed to win the vital Flinders by-election, reinforcing doubtsww about Hayden's ability to win an election.

On 3 February 1983, in a meeting in Brisbane, Hayden's closest supporters told him that he must resignFact|date=August 2008, which he did. Hawke was then elected leader unopposed. Later that morning, unaware of the events in Brisbane, Fraser in Canberra called a snap election for 5 March. At a press conference that afternoon Hayden, still emotionalPOV-statement|date=August 2008, said that "a drover's dog could lead the Labor Party to victory at the present time". Labor under Hawke won the 1983 election, and Hayden became Minister for Foreign Affairs, a position he held until 1988, performing competently but without evident enthusiasmPOV-statement|date=August 2008.

As Foreign Minister, Hayden advocated closer integration between Australia and its Asian neighbours. In a remarkablePOV-statement|date=August 2008 1983 speech, he stated: "Australia is changing. We're an anomaly as a European country in this part of the world. There's already a large and growing Asian population in Australia and it is inevitable in my view that Australia will become a Eurasian country... I happen to think that's desirable."

Governor-General

After the 1987 federal election Hawke offered Hayden the post of Governor-General to give him a dignified exit from politics and some consolation for having robbed him of the chance to become Prime Minister. Hayden's appointment as the next Governor-General to succeed Sir Ninian Stephen was publicly announced in mid-1988, and he immediately left parliament and severed all connections with the Labor Party. He assumed the post in early 1989, and served with discretion and distinction during the transition from the Hawke government to the Keating government in December 1991.

Early in his term, he accepted the honour of Companion of the Order of Australia [ [http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=885258&search_type=quick&showInd=true It's an Honour] - Companion of the Order of Australia] to fulfil the Governor-General's role as Chancellor of the Order, despite having previously said he would never accept any honours.

The Governor-General is normally the Chief Scout of Australia. [ cite web
title=Chief Scout
publisher=Scouts Australia
url=http://www.scouts.com.au/main.asp?iStoryID=734 ] Bill Hayden declined the office on the grounds of his atheism, which was incompatible with the Scout Oath. [cite web
title=Brief Comments
publisher=Australian League of Rights
url=http://www.alor.org/Volume25/Vol25No13.htm ]

Later life

In 1996 Hayden was recognised as the Australian Humanist of the Year by the Council of Australian Humanist Societies.

After Hayden left office in 1996, however, it became apparentww that he still resented how he had been treated by the Labor Party. He had a particular animosity towards Paul Keating, whom he believed to have engineered the 1983 leadership changeFact|date=August 2008. In 1998 he used the occasion of a defamation case involving Bob Ellis and two Liberal cabinet ministers, Tony Abbott and Peter Costello, and their wives, to deliberately publicise rumours about Keating's personal lifeFact|date=August 2008. By the late 1990s Hayden had become a conservative, joining the board of the conservative magazine "Quadrant". In the debate preceding the 1999 republic referendum, Hayden rejected the specific proposal and sided with the Monarchists, [ [http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s57757.htm Anti-republican cause recruits Bill Hayden - ABC PM: 7/10/1999] ] claiming he only supports direct election of a President. [ [http://www.republic.org.au/ARM-2001/mediaroom/mr16.htm Republicans call for the real Bill Hayden to stand up in the No referendum case - Republic.org.au: 17/8/1999] ]

In 2007 at the 45th State Conference of the Queensland Branch of the Australian Labor Party, Hayden was made a Life Member of the ALP.

tyles and Honours

* Mr William Hayden (1933-1961)
* Mr William Hayden MP (1961-1972)
* The Hon William Hayden MP (1972-1988)
* The Hon William Hayden (1988-1989)
* His Excellency the Hon William Hayden AC (1989-96)
* The Hon William Hayden AC (1996-)

Notes

References

*John Stubbs, "Hayden", William Hienemann 1989
*Bill Hayden, "Hayden, An Autobiography", Angus and Robertson 1996 ISBN 0-207-18769-X

Persondata
NAME=Hayden, Bill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Hayden, William George
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Australian politician and Governor-General of Australia
DATE OF BIRTH=23 January 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH=Brisbane, Queensland
DATE OF DEATH=Living person
PLACE OF DEATH=