Tribute: Gough Whitlam

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Jiska said:
One could argue the reason for his economic failures was because he pushed through costly reforms and policies - ones that changed the country forever for the better. Short term pain for long term gain.
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Everyone keeps avoiding the elephant in the room.

I know that he would not be known for economic failures if the anti communist west had not wanted him to be.
 
It's time​

To reflect on one of Australia's greatest men & Prime Ministers, Edward Gough Whitlam.

I remember the 'Its time' campaign of 1972, as a young man who was nearly of draft age, politics had become something to look at and consider. The time of the conservative government had to end, they had just run out of steam and limped to the line in 1972 plus the ALP ran such a slick, grand and effective, positive campaign, it was hard not to get swept up in the victory.

Three years later it was thank god that roller coaster of a ride was over and I would for many many years think back as Whitlam, the worst PM in Australia's history bar none but overtime those thoughts do change. As an administrator he was terrible but as a reformer, a leader, a change artist, none better.

It was a shame he couldn't run the cabinet. If he had the discipline that Hawke got out of his first 2 cabinets, Whitlam would have gone onto a long term Prime Minister.

I remember Remembrance day, 1975. About 11am the school PA system was broadcasting the ABC, updating the dismissal and the consequences. Very tense time, would there be riots in the streets, would the army be called out? I think our teachers went on immediate stop work to listen to the radio rather than teach.

Its only when you look back now and see what he introduced, medicare, land rights and reform, visit to China, ending conscription and free university are giant of achievements.

R.I.P. Gough.
 

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little graham said:
Everyone keeps avoiding the elephant in the room.

I know that he would not be known for economic failures if the anti communist west had not wanted him to be.
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Worth noting the other elephant in the room....Gough's most well known lasting legacy (free education, HECs etc) is currently being destroyed by the mincing poodle.

I wonder how Gough felt about that at the end?
 
Jiska said:
In less than three years:

- Created Medibank (now known as Medicare)
- Introduced Legal Aid
- Introduced free University
- Started work on the establishment of new hospitals in suburban Australia including Sunshine Hospital
- Increased schools' funding
- Increased social security spending on pensions and unemployment benefits
- Established Commonwealth funding responsibility for Universities
- Provided 'state aid' to non-Government schools
- Returned land to the Gurindji people and drafted the Land Rights Act
- Granted independence to PNG
- Established diplomatic relations with China
- Withdrew Australian troops from Vietnam
- Abolished the White Australia Policy
- Introduced Multiculturalism as Australian Government policy
- Fought for equal pay for women
- Instituted no-fault divorce
- Unilaterally cut Australian tariffs
- Introduced the Trade Practices Act banning anti-competitive conduct
- Ratified the World Heritage Convention and protected the Great Barrier Reef from oil drilling
- Created the Australia Council for the Arts
- Founded Triple J (then Double J)
- Connected suburban homes to sewerage
- Funded urban public transport projects and rail electrification
- Introduced Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem

If only we could find a politician these days, from either side of politics, willing to stick to his convictions and make fundamental change happen instead of talking about it.
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That is such an impressive CV. In terms of influence on Australian society I would line that CV up against the CV of any Prime Minister in Australian history (minus the war years).

Labor really needs to get back to its roots. Labor really needs a young Gough Whitlam.
 
RustyHawk said:
Its only when you look back now and see what he introduced, medicare, land rights and reform, visit to China, ending conscription and free university are giant of achievements.
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So in hindsight it was this period in time and reforms that started the sense of entitlement(which every subsequent Government fed and grew) we now see in today's society?
 
mottrain said:
Why not? There's tonnes of such comments relating to Thatcher's death as an example and the left literally thought it was in everyone's interest to condemn and criticise her.
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Maybe the reason is Gough strived to address inequality and wanted to implement policies that encouraged social inclusion while Thatcher disdained even the very concept of a society and seemed to be only driven by the need to enrich her Tory cohorts.
 
Wonderful legacy-made Australia a much better place, led us into the real world. Thanks Gough.
 
RisingPhoenix said:
Worth noting the other elephant in the room....Gough's most well known lasting legacy (free education, HECs etc) is currently being destroyed by the mincing poodle.

I wonder how Gough felt about that at the end?
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Don't forget medicare.
 
Nikita Blue said:
Maybe the reason is Gough strived to address inequality and wanted to implement policies that encouraged social inclusion while Thatcher disdained even the very concept of a society and seemed to be only driven by the need to enrich her Tory cohorts.
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Could say the same about Gough not looking after both sides. Not to mention many opf the Thatcher policies were repeated here and in other places but because they were not run by a right wing government they were seen as ok.
 
Jiska said:
- Created Medibank (now known as Medicare)
- Introduced free University
- Increased schools' funding
- Established Commonwealth funding responsibility for Universities
- Provided 'state aid' to non-Government schools
- Introduced Multiculturalism as Australian Government policy
- Fought for equal pay for women
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I didn't realise he had done so much damage. When you read it like that, he is as bad as any we've had.

That doesn't justify the CIA coup against him, though.

I can only imagine what was said to him to keep him from publicly discussing those events.
 
mottrain said:
Could say the same about Gough not looking after both sides. Not to mention many opf the Thatcher policies were repeated here and in other places but because they were not run by a right wing government they were seen as ok.
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Why should the rich be looked after?

Big enough and ugly enough too take care of themselves I would argue.
 

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mottrain said:
Could say the same about Gough not looking after both sides. Not to mention many opf the Thatcher policies were repeated here and in other places but because they were not run by a right wing government they were seen as ok.
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I suppose he thought that after 30 years of being looked after, the other side was in an okay state.

Not exactly sure what relevance a British Prime Minister has in an Australian Politics thread about Gough Whitlam.
 
Gus Poyet said:
So in hindsight it was this period in time and reforms that started the sense of entitlement(which every subsequent Government fed and grew) we now see in today's society?
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George Lakoff and Michel Foucault would be proud of such loaded revisionist framing, even if it is blatantly transparent.
 
Mofra said:
George Lakoff and Michel Foucault would be proud of such loaded revisionist framing, even if it is blatantly transparent.
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Says you.

I'm genuinely interested to know when the idea of Governments providing s**t for free came into vogue. Given every other Government that followed kept up with this ideal it's hardly a partisan question.
 
Gus Poyet said:
Says you.

I'm genuinely interested to know when the idea of Governments providing s**t for free came into vogue. Given every other Government that followed kept up with this ideal it's hardly a partisan question.
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Social Welfare started when unions formed in the industrial revolution and workers in factories decided they did not like being treated like slaves. I suppose you would like to go back to the laws of the beginning of the industrial revolution as that allowed the rich to do pretty much whatever they wanted.
 
RUNVS said:
Social Welfare started when unions formed in the industrial revolution and workers in factories decided they did not like being treated like slaves. I suppose you would like to go back to the laws of the beginning of the industrial revolution as that allowed the rich to do pretty much whatever they wanted.
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I'd like to go back further than that. To times when if you didn't contribute you got nothing.

Those who contribute the most should benefit the most.
 
Sickened having just watched Abbott's weasel 'tribute' words (with Poodle stage right) in Parliament.

The bloke stood against everything you and the rest of your cronies do Tone...how dare you pay tribute when you are trying your best to tear down his legislative legacy.

Not fit to pay tribute to a dead dogs a-hole for mind.
 
Jiska said:
In less than three years:

- Created Medibank (now known as Medicare)
- Introduced Legal Aid
- Introduced free University
- Started work on the establishment of new hospitals in suburban Australia including Sunshine Hospital
- Increased schools' funding
- Increased social security spending on pensions and unemployment benefits
- Established Commonwealth funding responsibility for Universities
- Provided 'state aid' to non-Government schools
- Returned land to the Gurindji people and drafted the Land Rights Act
- Granted independence to PNG
- Established diplomatic relations with China
- Withdrew Australian troops from Vietnam
- Abolished the White Australia Policy
- Introduced Multiculturalism as Australian Government policy
- Fought for equal pay for women
- Instituted no-fault divorce
- Unilaterally cut Australian tariffs
- Introduced the Trade Practices Act banning anti-competitive conduct
- Ratified the World Heritage Convention and protected the Great Barrier Reef from oil drilling
- Created the Australia Council for the Arts
- Founded Triple J (then Double J)
- Connected suburban homes to sewerage
- Funded urban public transport projects and rail electrification
- Introduced Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem

If only we could find a politician these days, from either side of politics, willing to stick to his convictions and make fundamental change happen instead of talking about it.
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You missed SBS - his govt launched that one in Jan. 75.

Great list though.
 
Jiska said:
In less than three years:

- Created Medibank (now known as Medicare)
- Introduced Legal Aid
- Introduced free University
- Started work on the establishment of new hospitals in suburban Australia including Sunshine Hospital
- Increased schools' funding
- Increased social security spending on pensions and unemployment benefits
- Established Commonwealth funding responsibility for Universities
- Provided 'state aid' to non-Government schools
- Returned land to the Gurindji people and drafted the Land Rights Act
- Granted independence to PNG
- Established diplomatic relations with China
- Withdrew Australian troops from Vietnam
- Abolished the White Australia Policy
- Introduced Multiculturalism as Australian Government policy
- Fought for equal pay for women
- Instituted no-fault divorce
- Unilaterally cut Australian tariffs
- Introduced the Trade Practices Act banning anti-competitive conduct
- Ratified the World Heritage Convention and protected the Great Barrier Reef from oil drilling
- Created the Australia Council for the Arts
- Founded Triple J (then Double J)
- Connected suburban homes to sewerage
- Funded urban public transport projects and rail electrification
- Introduced Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem

If only we could find a politician these days, from either side of politics, willing to stick to his convictions and make fundamental change happen instead of talking about it.
Click to expand...

No greater leader has achieved more
 
- Created Medibank (redesigned by Fraser and then by every government since)
- Introduced Legal Aid
- Introduced free University (one of the first things the Hawke government took away)
- Started work on the decentralization of new hospitals in suburbia (paranoid that nuclear attack would destroy all city hospitals)
- Increased schools' funding
- Increased social security spending on pensions and unemployment benefits (in 1972 the dole was 50 cents a week.)
- Established Commonwealth funding responsibility for Universities
- Provided 'state aid' to non-Government schools (and to think Latham wanted to take this away)
- Returned land to the Gurindji people and drafted the Land Rights Act
- Granted independence to PNG (this was in the pipeworks for years, it just that Gough was in power at the handover)
- Established diplomatic relations with China (I thank him for this one.)
- Withdrew Australian troops from Vietnam (troop numbers down to 130 when Gough came in)
- Abolished the White Australia Policy (after years of ALP protection, Holt eroded the WAP away)
- Introduced Multiculturalism as Australian Government policy (40 years on they ugly side is coming to the fore.)
- Fought for equal pay for women (I'm amazed that single female public servants had to resign when they got married)
- Instituted no-fault divorce ( husband prove wife adulterous once, wife to prove husband adulterous on many occasions)
- Unilaterally cut Australian tariffs (this caused a massive increase in unemployment)
- Introduced the Trade Practices Act banning anti-competitive conduct (His lasting legacy)
- Ratified the World Heritage Convention and protected the Great Barrier Reef from oil drilling
- Created the Australia Council for the Arts
- Founded Triple J (then Double J)
- Connected suburban homes to sewerage
- Funded urban public transport projects and rail electrification
- Introduced Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem (I wanted Waltzing Matilda)
 
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