Former prime minister Bob Hawke has died, aged 89.

He died peacefully at his Sydney home on Thursday, his wife Blanche d’Alpuget has confirmed in a statement.

“Today we lost Bob Hawke, a great Australian – many would say the greatest Australian of the post-war era,” she said.

Former prime minister Bob Hawke.

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“Bob Hawke and Paul Keating and their governments modernised the Australian economy, paving the way for an unprecedented period of recession-free economic growth and job creation.”

Ms d’Alpuget will hold a private funeral with his children Sue, Stephen, Rosslyn and stepson, Louis, and his grandchildren.

A memorial service for Australia’s 23rd prime minister will be held in Sydney in coming weeks.

Bob Hawke on election night in 1983.

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Opposition Leader Bill Shorten paid tribute to Mr Hawke on Thursday evening, saying the labour movement “salutes our greatest son”.

“The Labor Party gives thanks for the life of our longest-serving prime minister and Australians everywhere remember and honour a man who gave so much to the country and people he cared for so deeply,” he said in a statement.

“The Australian people loved Bob Hawke because they knew Bob loved them, this was true to the very end.

“He was a leader of conviction – and a builder of consensus. But for Bob, consensus and co-operation never meant pursuing the lowest common denominator.”

Mr Hawke’s death comes just days before the federal election, something he predicted in December he would not see because of ill health.

Mr Keating said Mr Hawke had been hoping for a Labor victory this weekend.

“In what was our last collaboration, Bob and I were delighted to support Bill Shorten last week in recounting the rationale we employed in opening Australia to the world,” he said.

“The country is much the poorer for Bob Hawke’s passing.”

Former prime ministers Paul Keating and Bob Hawke

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In their statements, both Mr Keating and Mr Shorten championed Mr Hawke’s policy-making and its lasting impact on modern Australia.

It was a sentiment echoed by Ms d’Alpuget.

“Together with his highly talented cabinets, he foresaw the Asian Century and positioned Australia to take full advantage of it through a program of sweeping economic reforms,” she said.

“Among his proudest achievements were large increases in the proportion of children finishing high school, his role in ending apartheid in South Africa and his successful international campaign to protect Antarctica from mining.

“He abhorred racism and bigotry. His father, the Reverend Clem Hawke, told Bob that if you believed in the Fatherhood of God then you must also believe in the Brotherhood of Man. Bob would add today the Sisterhood of Women.”

Bob Hawke and US President Ronald Reagan.

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Mr Shorten was expected to hold a media conference later on Thursday night.

And tributes have started to flow on social media.