Labor, led by Bob Hawke went on to defeat Fraser at the subsequent 1983 federal election and Keating began a long period of service as the nation's Treasurer.

The Keating government introduced mandatory detention for asylum seekers with bipartisan support in 1992,[16] scrapping a time limit of 273 days.

[citation needed] The government's agenda under Keating included creating an Australian republic, reconciliation with Australia's Indigenous population, and furthering economic and cultural ties with Asia.

[18] Keating embarked on a legislative program which included establishing the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) and the Creative Nation cultural policy in October 1994 (which significantly increased funding for the arts, established SBS independent and allocated funding for the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association and other new media initiatives).

[19] The government also undertook a review of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, and legislated native title rights for Indigenous Australians following the Mabo High Court decision.

[citation needed] In February 1992, Paul Keating announced that he wanted Australia to change its national flag because it contained the union jack within its design.

[20][21] When queried about these events in Parliament on 27 February 1992, Keating launched a repudiation of Australian ties to Britain and called the Liberals "'bootlickers" and "lickspitters" and accused them of "cultural cringe to a country which decided not to defend the Malay peninsula, not to worry about Singapore, not to give us our troops back to keep ourselves free from Japanese domination".

[21] With the House of Windsor suffering its 1992 annus horribilis, the republican cause became widely supported in the nation's newspapers, but Keating's comments about the flag and Britain's war record outraged groups like the Returned Services League (RSL), whose membership still consisted of veterans of the First and Second World Wars, and a ban on republicans from entering their clubs was announced for ANZAC Day 1992.

In a 1993 election policy launch, Keating argued that Australia would be "better able to succeed in the world" with an Australian head of state and announced a committee of "eminent persons" to develop a discussion paper for transition to a republic to coincide with the 2001 centenary of Federation.

Keating advocated a model involving parliamentary appointment of a president – this was criticised by members of the ALP left and by the new leader of the Australian Democrats, Cheryl Kernot who wanted more substantial change, such as direct election.

[21] On 18 September 1993, Keating met with the Queen at Balmoral Castle and outlined his republican program, which involved a referendum for a transition to a republic by 2001, but for Australian to remain within the Commonwealth of Nations.

The Republic Advisory Committee, chaired by Malcolm Turnbull of the Australian Republican Movement, submitted its report to the government on 5 October 1993 and Keating announced a working party of ministers to develop a paper for cabinet.

The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was established in February 1992 and in 1993 the government passed the Native Title Act in response to the High Court's historic decision in Mabo v Queensland.

Six months after the Mabo decision, Keating delivered his Redfern Park Speech to launch the International Year for the World's Indigenous People.

As a part of this process some of these cultural secrets were written down and sealed in two envelopes marked Confidential: to be read by women only and forwarded to Tickner with the assessment.

[23] The 1995 Hindmarsh Island Royal Commission called by the Government of South Australia ultimately found that the claims had indeed been fabricated, and Tickner became the focus of criticism.

[24] She went on to win the seat and further denounce Keating's cultural and economic agenda in her controversial maiden speech to Parliament, saying: "We now have a situation where a type of reverse racism is applied to mainstream Australians by those who promote political correctness and those who control the various taxpayer funded 'industries' that flourish in our society servicing Aboriginals, multiculturalists and a host of other minority groups.

[citation needed] Gareth Evans, as one of Australia's longest serving Ministers for Foreign Affairs was active in developing the United Nations peace plan for Cambodia, concluding the Chemical Weapons Convention, founding the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), as well as initiating the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

Keating lobbied various Asian nations and the United States to push for the development of APEC (established in 1989) as a regional forum for heads of government meetings to further economic co-operation in the Asia Pacific.

The Hawke government committed Australian naval forces to the 1991 Gulf War in support of the United States led coalition against the Saddam Hussein Iraqi regime's invasion of neighbouring Kuwait.

Foreign Minister Gareth Evans had taken a leading role in the organisation of a peace settlement for Cambodia in the aftermath of the genocidal regime of Pol Pot and Australia contributed the force commander.

The following year, the Rwandan genocide commenced in Central Africa, and, following the Somali experience, the international community was this time slow to intervene.

[27] As part of his broader agenda for shifting Australia away from its old allegiances, Paul Keating was keen to improve defence ties with Indonesia.

[28] Most commentators believed the 1993 federal election was unwinnable for Labor; the government had been in power for 10 years, the pace of economic recovery was slow and unemployment was its highest rates since the Great Depression.

[7] Opposition Leader John Hewson took the unusual step of releasing Fightback!, a detailed series of economic policies proposals, well in advance of the 1993 Election.

To demonstrate strength of intent, Keating promised two rounds of income tax cuts, legislating them and describing them as "L-A-W law".

Labor succeeded in winning back the electorate with a strong campaign opposing Fightback and its GST, and a promised focus on creating jobs coming out of the recession.

[7][32][33] A poorly performing economy, republicanism, indigenous title to land, and industrial relations policy were major issues of the Keating government's second term.

Downer failed to make inroads against Keating and in 1995 the party turned to John Howard a former opposition leader, who had also been Treasurer in the Fraser government which had been defeated by the Hawke-Keating Labor ticket in 1983.

He called for industrial relations reform and proposed an increased spending on environmental challenges, to be in part funded by the partial sale of Telstra.