The paper attempts to analyze the life and work of one of the most famous and popular politicians in Australia, Robert Lee Hawke. He served as Prime Minister from March 1983 to December 1991 and went down in history as the most successful reformer who turned his country into one of the leading states in the Asia-Pacific region. During his lifetime, heading first the Australian Council of Trade Unions and then the Australian Labor Party, he enjoyed a reputation as a successful mediator between trade unions, government and business, skillfully worked with the media and gained wide sympathy from his fellow citizens as an “Australian larrikin” who defended their interests. His reforms, by universal recognition, laid the foundations of the modern economic and social system, as well as the foreign policy of the Commonwealth of Australia. However, shortly after his death, the political activities of this man were subjected to very serious criticism. His loyalty to the traditions of the Australian Labor Party, of which he was the leader in 1983—1991, and the results of the famous Agreement on Prices and Incomes (the Accord), which became the basis of his course as Prime Minister since 1983, were questioned. According to critics, the result of this course was the actual the Labor leadership transition to the policy of neoliberalism, the benefits of which were mainly received by representatives of the business community. However, leaders of the current Australian Labor Party do not agree with this assessment and prefer to define R. Hawke's political experience as an example of “Australian Laborism”.