Former Labor leader and Governor General Bill Hayden has died at the age of 90.
Born in 1933 in the inner north of Brisbane, Hayden left school at the age of 16 and worked in various jobs including as a police officer before entering federal parliament in 1961 at the age of 28, having won the Queensland seat of Oxley for Labor.
Hayden rose to Labor party leader, serving as leader of the opposition from 1977 to 1983 during the years when the Liberal Party's Malcolm Fraser was prime minister.
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In early 1983 he resigned his position as Labor leader when the party made it clear that Bob Hawke – who would be elected prime minister shortly afterwards – was the preferred choice.
"I believe a drover's dog could lead the Labor Party to victory the way the country is and the way the opinion polls are," Hayden fanmously said at the time.
Hayden later served as Australia's 21st governor general from February 1989 to February 1996.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese issued a statement on Saturday in which he saluted a man who he called "a legend of our labour movement".
"As Prime Minister and Federal Labor Leader, I mourn Bill Hayden's passing and honour his life," Albanese said.
"My first thoughts are with Dallas, his beloved wife of 63 years, their children and all those who knew and loved him best.
"If Bill Hayden left no other legacy than as a key architect of universal healthcare, he would still stand for all time as a legend of our labour movement and a great contributor to our nation.
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"Of course, in his lifetime of service, Bill gave so much more to the country he loved. Indeed in every role he held: Governor-General, Minister for Social Security, Treasurer, Foreign Minister and Labor Leader, Bill Hayden gave his utmost.
"In a time of forceful personalities, Bill Hayden was notable for his humility. Yet there was nothing modest about his ambition for Labor or Australia."
Albanese said that Hayden would be remembered as the man who laid the foundation for the social and economic reforms that created three decades of economic growth.
The PM also credited Hayden's reforms with delivering Australia a new era in education, foreign affairs, environmental policy, and universal healthcare.
"When the story of that generation is told, history should record that without Bill Hayden championing and building Medibank, there could have been no Medicare," he said.
Australia's universal healthcare system was originally named "Medibank" when it commenced in 1975.
As Social Security Minister in the Whitlam government, Hayden was the man who developed early the early blueprint for the scheme.
Medibank was scrapped in 1981 under the Fraser government, then reinstated in 1984 by the Hawke government with the new branding "Medicare" so that people would not confuse it with the private health fund Medibank Private, which still exists today.
A state funeral will be held to honour Bill Hayden's life.
