scot47

Born in 1916, died 2014 !

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/22/wo...t-98.html?_r=0

spouse of scouse

I remember Gough's time as PM so well, I was in my early teens are just starting to become interested in politics.

He was a Prime Minister for the people and his social reforms totally changed Australia. From universal health care, the end of the disgusting 'White Australia Policy', free university education that saw for the first time people from low income families be able to go to uni, to support for indigenous land rights, ending military conscription and equal pay for women for equal work - he was a Prime Minister of his time and dragged Australia kicking and screaming from a sleepy, conservative outpost of Mother England to a modern nation.

Was he perfect? No. Did every single one of his policies work? No. But he had guts and integrity, and I don't think we'll see his like again.

Vale Mr Whitlam. You did Australia and yourself proud.

Amazulu

5

The White Australia Policy was ended by the Liberal Government of Harold Holt

I won't comment on your other points but what he did to East Timor is a disgrace - and therefore helped in the repression of a nation and the murder of thousands of innocents

Not Australia's finest hour

spouse of scouse

Holt 'liberalised' the WAP in 1966 by allowing a small number of well-qualified Asian people to be admitted to Australia. His government's cabinet documents from that era expressly state that Holt still wished Australia to remain 'racially homogeneous'.

The practice of discriminating against would be immigrants who were non-European continued until 1973, when the Whitlam government's Minister for Immigration, Al Grassby, altered the entry requirements to a points based system that removed any reference to, or preference for, migrants from European or non-European backgrounds.

East Timor has been let down by a succession of Australian governments, both Labor and Liberal.

OzTennis

Ironically I was reading Geoffrey Blainey's A Shorter History of Australia last week when Whitlam passed away. Blainey is a renowned, acknowledged right wing historian (who was my Australian History lecturer and tutor at U of M for 2 years), but he had a huge amount of praise for Whitlam in the book.

As Blainey said, when Whitlam came into power after the Liberal/Country Party coalition had been in power for a generation (23 years), he tried to reform too quickly and ran into 'supply' or funding problems in the Upper House. Ironically his GG appointment, Sir John Kerr, issued the coup de gras.

"Mr. Abbott, a member of the conservative Liberal Party, told Parliament on Tuesday: “In every sense, Gough Whitlam was a giant figure in this Parliament and in our public life. Whether you were for him or against him, it was his vision that drove our politics then and which still echoes through our public life four decades on.” Says much about the man.

I would highlight his policies on rights for women, free education, indigenous rights, recognising China (how important is that now?), the end of conscription, the health service and legal aid.

Gough achieved more in 3 years than nearly every other national leader has done and as Abbott said he still has influence 40 years on.

R.I.P Gough Whitlam, a giant of a man in more than one way.

Mr Grumpy

Well the Conservatives allowed Indonesia to annex West Papua in 1969 so why don't you have a bit of balance?

The fact of the matter is that it would of taken a full scale war to stop Indonesia and Australia would of gotten no support from the USA as Indonesia was being used as an anti-Communist tool during that era.

Amazulu

The end of the WAP was one of those things implemented by one government and finished by another. The Liberals started to remove it and Whitlam applied the finishing touches

The invasion of East Timor was sanctioned by Whitlam (along with the UK and US), although I concede that it has to be seen against the politics of the time (communism, cold war etc)

Amazulu

The US and UK also sanctioned the invasion as well, so I see your point

The (then) new F111C wing at Amberly would have been enough of a threat to deter Indonesia - it was one of the reason why they were acquired. Indonesian politicians and soldiers have confirmed that they genuinely feared this capability

Amazulu

He certainly divided the nation. Talking to people who were around at the time and not many have a good thing to say about him. It seems to me that if you were young and had no commitments, you loved him. If you had any kind of responsibility, business, investment, you hated him

The election of 1975 handed the ALP their biggest defeat ever. so as usual, the people showed the politicians what they thought of them and their policies!

OzTennis

As said, Whitlam tried to do too much too soon after 23 years of conservative coalition rule and his undoing was not being able to get supply (finance) through the Upper House. The people showed what they thought of Whitlam's successor, Fraser, and conservative policies by electing Bob Hawke 4 times in 1983, 1984, 1987 and 1990. Whitlam laid the groundwork for Hawke, Keating and Rudd.

OzTennis

It's Abbott's Time

'It's time' was the 1972 slogan for the ALP. It's been copied since.

One tribute to Gough - "After nearly a quarter of a century of stagnant conservative rule during which Australia seemed to be a backward looking outpost of the British empire run by monarchists and reactionaries, Gough Whitlam, the Mighty Gough, broke through and during his first 12 months in office remade Australia forever."

Gibbo

Whitlam does not deserve the accolades which have been given since his death. Most of the things that have been attributed to him were in place before he was elected. He had grandiose ideas but no idea how to carry them out or pay for them. The reason supply was blocked was because he and his cohorts were arranging a massive loan from the middle east which would have been very detrimental to Australia. If he had been such a brilliant PM, why was he so badly beaten in the election after the dismissal and in subsequent elections? Bob Hawke had nothing to thank Whitlam for. Labor have plenty to thank Hawke for! He has been the only decent Labor PM in my life time. As for Keating and Rudd, would hardly call them successes!

OzTennis

Time to let Gough R.I.P.

The British-American coup that ended Australian independence | John Pilger | Comment is free | theguardian.com

You are one of the 'sneering detractors' mentioned here:

Economist disarms Gough Whitlam's sneering detractors

"Responding to the inevitable carping and sneering at the economic vandalism and irresponsibility of the Whitlam government, economist Stephen Koukoulas this week pointed out two inconvenient truths. The Whitlam government "left zero net government debt to Fraser" who then boosted net government debt to 7.5 per cent of GDP by the time Hawke ran him out of office. And when Whitlam was removed by Fraser's bloodless coup, "the tax to GDP ratio was around 20 per cent". Fraser's treasurer, honest John Howard, "got this up to an all-time record tax take exceeding 24 per cent of GDP".

Gibbo

[QUOTE=OzTennis;11450838]Time to let Gough R.I.P.

The British-American coup that ended Australian independence | John Pilger | Comment is free | theguardian.com

You are one of the 'sneering detractors' mentioned here:

I certainly am not a sneering detractor, I simply have my opinion of Whitlam PM based on my first hand experience and honestly can't believe all the things that have been wrongly attributed to him. As for Whitlam the man, I cannot comment as I never met him. I totally agree that he should be allowed to RIP. However we still have the funeral to get through,and all the false accolades about his prime ministership, before the poor man can RIP

OzTennis

[QUOTE=Gibbo;11451737] I lived through the Whitlam years (and the Menzies etc years before, Fraser years after) so I base my comments on personal experience as well. You think they are false accolades, even eminent right leaning leaders have grudgingly given credit where credit is due. Whatever your views he was truly ground breaking in many areas and I've yet to see your evidence that most of the things he's been given credit for were in place already - that's not my view.

The other point worth making (quoted from the article below) is that the timing could not have been worse for Whitlam coming to power and trying to get through all his social reforms - 1973 oil crisis, high inflation, stagflation and I would add that Britain had just in a sense abandoned Commonwealth countries by joining what was then the EEC.

"David Burchell, of the University of Western Sydney, who has written widely about Australian politics, said it was ironic that the 1973 oil crisis, inflationary pressures and economic stagnation provided one of the worst times for Mr Whitlam's big-spending, socially reforming government to be in power.

"Even though the government was dismissed, a lot of their policies remain popular," he added. "Few of the social reforms enacted were ever rolled back."

Gough Whitlam: Legacy of social reform overshadowed by controversial dismissal - Telegraph