Bill Hayden dies: Former Governor-General and Labor leader dies at the age of 90
- Hayden was a former Labor leader
- Became Governor General in 1989
Bill Hayden, who was a minister under Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke before becoming Australia’s 21st Governor-General, has died aged 90.
Former federal Labor leader and Governor-General Bill Hayden is being remembered as a great Australian after his death at the age of 90.
Hayden led Labor in opposition from 1977 to 1983 before becoming foreign secretary in Bob Hawke’s government.
He had previously served as a minister and briefly as treasurer under Gough Whitlam.
Hayden became Australia’s 21st Governor-General, serving between 1989 and 1996.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Mr Hayden, who will be farewelled with a state funeral, was a Labor legend who laid the foundation for the reforms pursued by the Hawke-Keating government.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Hayden, who will be farewelled with a state funeral, was a Labor legend who laid the foundation for the reforms introduced by the Hawke-Keating governments.
“If Bill Hayden left no legacy other than as a key architect of universal health care, he would still forever be a legend of our labor movement and a major contributor to our nation,” Albanese said in a statement Saturday.
‘In an age of powerful personalities, Bill Hayden stood out for his humility.
‘Yet there was nothing modest about his ambition for Labor or Australia. This was the quiet strength of character he brought to the cause of progress.
“As the story of that generation is told, history should show that without Bill Hayden who defended and built Medibank, there could have been no Medicare.
“Without Bill Hayden’s commitment to fiscal discipline, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating would have found it harder to make progress on economic reform.”
After leading the Labor Party, Mr Hayden became Australia’s 21st Governor-General, serving from 1989 to 1996.
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating described Hayden as “a great servant of Australia”.
“Political circumstances denied Bill Hayden the premiership, but the Hawke government in which he was foreign secretary was set up and shaped by him as leader of the parliamentary Labor Party,” Keating said.
“And the economic staff he appointed were the building blocks the Hawke government relied on to shift the country’s policies toward the economic rationalism that has since made Australia so flexible and so wealthy.
“Very few Australians have made such a contribution over such a long period of time. The country has become poorer because of his death.’
Mr. Hayden is survived by his wife, Dallas, and three children.