The Honorable Paul Keating, Former Prime Minister of Australia

Paul Keating was Prime Minister of Australia from December 1991 to March 1996. As Prime Minister, Paul Keating turned Australia's focus away from their traditional ties with Europe and the United States towards Asia, their nearest neighbors and the fastest growing region in the world. Mr. Keating was able to further pursue the micro-economic reform agenda he set as Treasurer, including the deregulation of the airline and telecommunications industries, a national standard gauge rail highway and the establishment of a National Electricity Grid Corporation. On 2 March 1996 the Labor Party was defeated in the Federal Election. Mr. Keating relinquished the leadership of the parliamentary party and resigned from Parliament on 23 April 1996. In May 1996, he was appointed as a visiting professor at the University of New South Wales with a special relationship with the University's Asia-Australia Institute.