Paul Keating

Later in 1995 Queensland Labor barely held onto its majority at the 1995 state election before losing it altogether in a 1996 by-election held a week after Keating called a federal election for March. Publicly Hawke and Keating had said there would be no recession - or there would be a "soft landing" - but this changed when Keating announced the country was indeed in recession - "this was the recession we had to have" he famously added. At a 1988 meeting at Kirribilli House Hawke and Keating discussed the handover of the leadership to Keating.

Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is a former Australian politician who served as the 24th Prime Minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996. In 1991 Keating defeated Hawke for the Labor leadership in a partyroom ballot and became prime minister. [citation needed].