The Hawke Government Ministers (1983-1991)

A total of 53 people (49 men and 4 women) served as ministers or parliamentary secretaries in the Hawke governments between 1983 and 1991.

Twenty-four (45.28%) of those ministers have died (23 men, 1 woman).

The Hawke government took office on March 11, 1983, following the ALP’s defeat of the Fraser-led coalition government. Hawke went on to win further elections in 1984, 1987 and 1990. Consequently, there were four Hawke governments. The table below shows which governments each minister served in.

Whereas Whitlam was the first Labor prime minister to win two consecutive elections, Hawke was the first to win three and then four.

Despite a record of electoral success not matched by any other ALP leader, the ALP caucus voted to replace Hawke with Paul Keating on December 19, 1991. The Hawke government ended the following day. Hawke left the parliament two months later. At that stage, he was the nation’s second-longest serving prime minister, a record that was eventually broken by Keating’s successor, John Howard.

The Keating governments constitute the fifth and sixth governments of the Labor years. Following its defeat by the coalition’s John Howard, the ALP left office on March 11, 1996, exactly thirteen years after the first Hawke ministry took office.

The oldest surviving member of the Hawke ministries is John Brown, 92. The youngest is Gary Punch, 67. The ages of all living former members are updated automatically.

• The Keating Government Ministers 1991-1996

The first table shows the twenty-four members (45.28%) of the Hawke executives who have died.

The Hawke Ministers 1983-1991 – Deceased Ministers

1. Mick Young – died 08.04.1996 (59)
2. Sen. Peter Cook – died 03.12.2005 (62)
3. Sen. Bob Collins – died 12.09.2007 (61)
4. Sen. John Button – died 08.04.2008 (74)
5. Clyde Holding – died 31.07.2011 (80)
6. Lionel Bowen – died 01.04.2012 (89)
7. Gordon Bilney – died 28.10.2012 (73)
8. Sen. Arthur Gietzelt – died 05.01.2014 (93)
9. Tom Uren – died 26.01.2015 – (93)
10. Sen. Peter Walsh – died 10.04.2015 (80)
11. Con Sciacca – died 21.06.2017 (70)
12. Barry Cohen – died 18.12.2017 (82)
13. Gordon Scholes – died 09.12.2018 (87)
14. Bob Hawke – died 16.05.2019 (89)
15. Ben Humphreys – died 17.11.2019 (85)
16. Sen. Susan Ryan – died 27.09.2020 (77)
17. Chris Hurford – died 15.11.2020 (89)
18. Sen. Don Grimes – died 20.11.2021 (83)
19. Bob Brown – died 30.03.2022 (88)
20. John Kerin – died 28.03.2023 (85)
21. Stewart West – died 28.03.2023 (88)
22. Simon Crean – died 25.06.2023 (74)
23. Bill Hayden – died 21.10.2023 (90)
24. Gerry Hand – died 15.11.2023 (81)

The second table shows all the members of the four Hawke ministries. Yellow shading indicates which term of government each minister served in. Current ages are updated automatically.

LEGEND:
– C = member of Cabinet
– (Assisting) = Minister Assisting
– (PS) = Parliamentary Secretary
– Portfolio (eg. Finance) = Minister for (Portfolio)