Paul Keating was the stand-out, consummate performer in the Australian federal parliament from 1983, when the ALP, led by Bob Hawke, won government, until John Howard knocked Labor from the perch in 1996. Keating was first Hawke Government Treasurer, then Deputy Prime Minister and, after a brutal and public leadership contest with Hawke, PM from 1991. He rose from working class Bankstown to enter federal parliament in 1969 as the then youngest member, aged 25. He was a product of brutal NSW ALP faction fights, which featured branch stacking, stand over tactics and thug violence. Keating was a leading light…