ABSTRACT

Collectively, the Hawke and Keating governments span a 13-year period in the history of Australian foreign policy, punctuated by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. The Hawke-Keating years are typically remembered fondly by those who worked for the Australian aid program. Hayden acted on the Jackson Review and, in doing so, eased anxiety about termination. Later, Evans, in combination with Bilney, fought hard for aid in Cabinet and oversaw the end of budget support to Papua New Guinea. While Robert 'Bob' Dun would oversee an aid program increasingly confident of its standing in the Australian foreign policy assemblage, he would also confront considerable budget pain as, before the gloss of Jackson had even worn off, the aid program would suffer substantial cuts during the 1986–87 budget process in particular. The man chosen to replace Dun was DFAT officer Philip Flood.