The election of the Hawke Labor government on March 5 1983 began an era of once-in-a-century economic reforms that opened the Australian economy to the world. It floated the dollar, eliminated controls on international capital flows, and dismantled the high tariffs that protected local manufacturers from imports. It refocused Australia’s international trade and foreign policy on the Asia-Pacific region.
But perhaps its most striking innovation was in place even before it was elected: a historic agreement with the Australian Council of Trade Unions, known as the Prices and Incomes Accord (or “the Accord”), announced on February 22 1983.
