[1][2] Keating became deputy prime minister in 1990, but in June 1991 he resigned from the government to unsuccessfully challenge Hawke for the leadership, believing he had reneged on the Kirribilli Agreement.

In its second term, the Keating government enacted the landmark Native Title Act to enshrine Indigenous land rights, introduced compulsory superannuation and enterprise bargaining, created a national infrastructure development program, privatised Qantas, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories and the Commonwealth Bank, established the APEC leaders' meeting, and promoted republicanism by establishing the Republic Advisory Committee.

Keating has since remained active as a political commentator, whilst maintaining a broad series of business interests, including serving on the international board of the China Development Bank from 2005 to 2018.

[3] Since leaving office, Keating received broad praise from historians and commentators for his role in modernising the Australian economy as treasurer, although ratings of his premiership have been mixed.

[4][5][6][7] Keating has been recognised across the political spectrum for his charisma, debating skills, and his willingness to boldly confront social norms,[1] including his famous Redfern Park Speech on the impact of colonisation in Australia and Aboriginal reconciliation.

[12] Keating grew up in Bankstown, a working-class suburb in western Sydney, the family home from 1942 to 1966 being a modest fibro-and-brick bungalow at 3 Marshall Street (demolished for flat development in 2014).

Leaving De La Salle College—now known as LaSalle Catholic College—at the age of 14, Keating left high school rather than pursuing higher education, instead working as a pay clerk at the Sydney County Council's electricity distributor.

In a 2013 interview with Kerry O'Brien, Keating called the dismissal a "coup" and raised the idea to "arrest [Kerr]" and "lock him up", adding that he would not have "[taken] it lying down" if he was prime minister.

[24] Although Howard was widely regarded at this time as being "discredited" by the hidden deficit, he had in fact argued unsuccessfully against Fraser that the revised figures should be disclosed before the election.

[27] Hawke's enthusiasms were cigars, betting and most forms of sport; Keating preferred classical architecture, Mahler symphonies and collecting British Regency and French Empire antiques.

[28][29] Despite not knowing one another before Hawke assumed the leadership in 1983, the two formed a personal as well as political relationship which enabled the Government to pursue a significant number of reforms, although there were occasional points of tension between the two.

[32] In December 1983, Hawke and Keating approved the floating of the Australian dollar, disregarding advice from the Treasury Secretary John Stone to retain the fixed currency framework.

"[48] Whilst the remainder of the package represented the biggest overhaul of the Australian taxation system for decades, Keating continued to agitate for further changes to address the balance of payments problems faced by Australia.

On 14 May 1986, frustrated at the slow pace of dealing with the issue, Keating caused considerable public comment and a degree of controversy when he declared on a radio programme that if Australia did not address the problem, it risked degenerating to the status of a "banana republic".

[50] During the campaign for the 1987 election, Keating was credited as dealing a "fatal" blow to the Liberal-National Coalition's hopes for victory, after giving a press conference in which he exposed a significant accounting error in the costings the Liberal Party had released to demonstrate how its economic policies would be paid for.

[51] Then-Opposition Leader John Howard accepted the error, and subsequent opinion polling reported that the mistake greatly contributed to Labor's vote in what proved to be a landslide victory.

[71] Keating led the Government's response to the ruling, beginning a high-profile public campaign on raising awareness of the issue, and advocating repeatedly in favour of the judgment and for an expansion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land rights.

It had been demonstrated that Australia, along with many other Western nations, would experience a major demographic shift in the coming decades, due to ageing population, and it was claimed that this would result in increased pension payments that would place an unaffordable strain on the Australian economy.

[80] 'One Nation' also proposed a series of further tax cuts for middle-income workers coming in two tranches, in 1993 and 1995, although these would later be deferred to 1995 and 1998, a move which cost the Government considerable political support among the public.

[80] A further major economic policy development was the introduction of an enterprise bargaining scheme as part of the final stage of the Prices and Incomes Accord, intended to allow for greater flexibility and economies of scale within industrial wage arbitration, although much of this was curtailed by the Howard government after 1996.

[81] Keating made a conscious effort to develop a personal relationship with Indonesian President Suharto, and to include Indonesia in multilateral forums attended by Australia.

Keating's friendship with Suharto was criticised by human rights activists supportive of East Timorese independence, and by Nobel Peace Prize winner José Ramos-Horta.

[85] During the campaign, Keating focused a great amount of effort on attacking the Coalition's proposed goods and services tax (GST), arguing that it would prove "a dead weight" on the economy, and stating that "every time you put your hand in your pocket, Dr. Hewson's will be in there with you".

Having begun the campaign far behind the Coalition in opinion polls, on 13 March Keating led Labor to an unexpected and record-breaking fifth consecutive election victory, picking up a two-seat swing.

In contrast to Hewson, Howard adopted a "small target" campaign strategy for the 1996 election, publicly committing to keep numerous Labor reforms such as Medicare, and defusing the republic issue by promising to hold a constitutional convention.

Keating announced he would retire as Labor Leader and from Parliament, and tendered his resignation as prime minister on 11 March, 13 years to the day after Bob Hawke had first taken office.

[105] During the 2015 New South Wales state election, Keating gave his support for the privatisation agenda of the Liberal government and slammed the Labor Party for its anti-privatisation position.

They stated that "Shorten's Labor is the only party of government focused on the need to modernise the economy to deal with the major challenge of our time: human induced climate change"; it was the first joint press statement released by the two since 1991.

[112] In January 2022, Keating accused British foreign secretary Liz Truss of making "demented" comments about Chinese military aggression in the Pacific, saying that "Britain suffers delusions of grandeur and relevance deprivation.

[120] This became the family home after his marriage in 1976 until 1983, when the Keatings sold the property for $123,000 and moved to a one-storey rental house in the Canberra suburb of Red Hill to be closer to work.