Sometimes Paul Keating shows incredible foresight and insight.
He saw the rise of Asia 25 years ago and moved Australia in that direction, which can be seen now as the right move.
Keating floated the dollar, brought in centralised industrial arbitration and started to remove barriers that prevented Australia from being internationally competitive.
Hawke was always more of the popularist, while Keating was more "this is the right thing to do, **** it, let's do it ...".
My favourite all time one-liner in federal parliament was in a heated debate when Keating referred to the conservatives as the "idiot sons of the Squatocracy".
Hansard has never been as much fun to watch since Keating left.