John Messara pays tribute to Bob Hawke

John Messara pays tribute to Bob Hawke

Arrowfield’s Chairman John Messara AM pays tribute to former Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawke AC GCL after Mr Hawke’s death at the age of 89 in Sydney on Thursday 16 May. 

Messara says, “The death of Bob Hawke will be deeply felt throughout the Australian Thoroughbred Racing Industry. Bob enjoyed his racing and the industry loved him.”

“I regard the Hawke Government’s initiative in the 1985 Federal Budget to place the Australian Breeding Industry on the same fiscal footing as its neighbouring competitor, New Zealand, as the foundation of the Industry’s success today. It was the 1985 Budget that gave Industry participants the confidence to invest in the upgrading of the Australian gene pool – and we have seen the results over the past three decades.”

“Bob and a number of his Cabinet colleagues understood the Racing Industry, the employment it creates and the part it plays in Australian culture, especially in communities outside the major cities.”

“I was privileged to know Bob over a long period of time. He assisted the Industry on a trade mission to Japan after he had retired from politics and he was kind enough to open the then newly built Arrowfield Stud at Jerry’s Plains in 1989. His energy, intellect and charisma were formidable and his enthusiasm for racing causes and people never waned.”

Messara concludes, “May this great Australian rest in peace.”