[Re-published 7 November after glitch on 6th.]
The transition from Boris Johnson to Liz Truss took two months. From Hawke to Keating took exactly 45 minutes. Here’s a reminder.
Minutes of special meeting of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party held Thursday, December 19, 1991
The meeting opened at 6:36 pm with CAROLYN JAKOBSEN in the chair, who specified the meeting was being held under Rule 12(a).
The LEADER announced his resignation. He said he believed that the 1993 election would be a most important one and his leadership gave the best chance for a Labor victory. He wanted to put behind the Party the trauma of the period of the challenge.
He said there were two indisputable facts:
The Australian media wanted Paul Keating for Prime Minister and the ALP wanted Bob Hawke. He hoped the will of the ALP would prevail. He tendered his resignation and nominated for the position of LEADER.
The RETURNING OFFICER took over the meeting. He called for further nominations.
PAUL KEATING then nominated himself.
The meeting was adjourned to allow preparation of ballot papers.
At 6:50 pm the ballot papers were made available and voting commenced.
At 7.06 pm the returning officer declared he had received 107 ballot papers and the result was:
KEATING 56
HAWKE 51
PAUL KEATING addressed the meeting. He paid tribute to Bob Hawke’s leadership over a decade. It was an electoral record unequalled and we all owed him an enormous debt.
There was a standing acclamation for BOB HAWKE.
[Paul Keating then spoke of Bob Hawke’s achievements.]
BOB HAWKE then addressed the caucus. He congratulated PAUL KEATING and thanked the 51 who had voted for him in the ballot. He pledged complete support to the party and the Government. He would not utter one word to harm Paul or his Government. It had been a privilege to lead the Party for nine years and his reward was to be able to leave Australia a better place.
The meeting closed at 7:21 pm.”
There had been wrangling and heartache for many months. But the final resolution was swift.