Donate NowMarch 13 2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the 1993 federal election contest between the incumbent Paul Keating and John Hewson. In the lead up to the recession ‘we had to have’, John Hewson emerged as the leader of the opposition Liberal party. He set out early and launched his Fightback policy in late 1991 representing the Coalition’s new future policy direction. We delve into the past and ask: How consequential was the race? Did Keating’s demolition of the Coalition’s free-market manifesto herald the demise of the reform agenda in Australia? And, did the “unlosable election” spell the end of political transparency?