Mr Keating was presented with the gift by Shadow Minister for Health, Chris Bowen, Torch managing director John Engisch and Blaxland MP Jason Clare, at the launch of the first Annual Paul Keating Lecture.
MORE than 300 people packed into Bryan Brown Theatre for the first Annual Paul Keating Lecture last Thursday evening.
It was hosted by Federal MP for Blaxland, Jason Clare, who welcomed the former Prime Minister and Member for Blaxland back to Bankstown to help launch the lecture.
“Paul Keating is proof that Bankstown kids can achieve anything,” Mr Clare said.
“He was a working class kid who grew up in a fibro house in Marshall Street, Bankstown and went on to become the 24th Prime Minister of Australia and transform our economy and our country.”
This year marks 50 years since Mr Keating was first elected to the Australian Parliament.
Chris Bowen, the former Treasurer and current Shadow Minister for Health, delivered the first Paul Keating Lecture.
The Paul Keating Lecture will now become an annual event in Bankstown where Mr Clare will host a prominent Australian to talk about what Mr Keating did for our country and what we can learn from him to build a better Australia.
To thank Mr Keating for launching the Annual Lecture and to mark 50 years since he was first elected as the Member for Blaxland, Mr Clare presented two framed pages from the Canterbury Bankstown Torch from the 1969 Election.
Paul Keating Lecture debut
A GRACIOUS former Prime Minister, Paul Keating was presented with two framed pages from the Canterbury Bankstown Torch covering the 1969 election, to mark 50 years since he was first elected as the Federal MP for Blaxland.