by Dr Binoy Kampmark

What a cheeky way of going.  Death is rarely a matter of good timing but it can be part of a good career move or, as Robert J. Hawke’s passing might prove, the perfect conclusion to his political party’s attempt to reclaim office.  Having shuffled off his mortal coil a few days out of an Australian federal election, his Labor counterparts will hope so.

At a time when Australian politics suffers from dull atrophy and an entrenched dreariness, Hawke, virtue and vice, seems nostalgically stellar.  He cried on public occasions; he bellowed at his opponents with fury; and was fundamentally vulnerable to the usual failings: drink and women.  He wore his errors and his broken promises (with notable exceptions, particularly towards his treasurer and ultimate usurper, Paul Keating), lending himself to a whole assortment of descriptions. 

Read more: Australia’s Bob Hawke: Misunderstood in Memoriam

Australia at the Crossroads: Time for an independent foreign policy

Is your IPAN-affiliated organisation sending a delegate or delegates to the Darwin Conference?

This year's IPAN conference is being held in Darwin as it is the centre for the most recent establishment of a foreign troop presence in Australia with the numbers of US Marines planned to rise to 2,500 and an undeclared strength of US air-force at Tindal and Darwin and US naval forces using Darwin Harbour.

Read more: National IPAN Conf - Darwin, Aug 2-4