Toast Vale Gough Whitlam

[Kimbo]

A giant, literally and metaphorically, of Australian history. A sad day, and an end of era.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Well may we say, rest in peace, Gough.

 

[Only Forwards]

With his death comes my realisation that we had better pollies in the 70's than we do now.

So much for progress.

 

[B4Bear]

Vale Comrade.

We have,
but once seen,
his like in our lifetime,
and we are richer for it.

 

[BlueRoos]

Gough certainly changed my life and opened a door to opportunties that I probably would not have had otherwise. I dare say there would be plenty in the same boat. His reign as PM may have only been brief, but his impact on the fabric of the country has far out lived that. Much of that change is still very much worth fighting for and protecting today.

Thanks, RIP Mr Whitlam.

 

[Comebackmick]

A giant indeed.
Vale big feller.
History will value you even more as time passes.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

I may disagree with his ideology and many of his policies, but there is no doubt he tried to make the world better in his own way and no one can deny his impact on Australia, its politics and its history. He is the epitome of what the ALP should be and he will be sorely missed by friends, enemies and admirers alike.

You'll be missed Gough

God save the Queen, because nothing will save the governor-general.

 

[muttley45]

98, was a good innings Gough, a giant of Australian politics, RIP

 

[marklovesbeer]

 

[Gasometer]

Did a lot of research first year Uni on 72-75 and Gough.

The demise and scandals diminish everything good that came about during those three years....he woke Australia up.

And the dry wit!

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

View attachment 88474

Ned Flanders: I give you the jury of the damned. Benedict Arnold, Lizzie Borden, Richard Nixon...

Richard Nixon: But I'm not dead yet. In fact, I just wrote an article for Redbook.

Ned Flanders: Hey listen, I did a favor for you!

Richard Nixon: Yes, Master.

Ned Flanders: John Wilkes Booth, Blackbeard the Pirate, John Dillinger, and the starting line of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers.

 

[Kimbo]

Did a lot of research first year Uni on 72-75 and Gough.

The demise and scandals diminish everything good that came about during those three years....he woke Australia up.

And the dry wit!

While it's true that history will remember him more kindly than society of the time, I don't necessarily regard that as a bad thing. Electorates are notoriously reactionary. (What loans affair? Juni Morosi was hot, etc. )

 

[Kimbo]

On an appropriately serious note, the very many achievements of the Whitlam government, from an article in the SMH:

Whitlam's short three-year shelf life as prime minister is generally recognised as one of Australia's most reforming governments.

Conservative government has been the norm in Australian politics since federation and the preference is for reform by increment rather than by rush. Consequently, much of what Gough Whitlam built – such as a free university education – has been torn down by successive governments on both sides of the political spectrum.

But what remains continues to shape Australia's national life like a guardian angel. Here is some of the Whitlam legacy:

● His government extricated Australia from the Vietnam War and abolished conscription. Australia had been fighting in South Vietnam since 1962. Two years later conscription was introduced but the first wave of baby boomers rebelled and eventually they, and their elders, took to the streets in moratorium nationwide marches that saw mass civil disobedience reflect the prevailing view. Labor's anti-war policy became one of Whitlam's most powerful election campaign assets.

● Whitlam took the demonology out of foreign policy, recognising China after the Coalition had refused contact with Beijing for 24 years. Whitlam ripped the rug from beneath Bill McMahon when he led a Labor delegation to China in July 1971 and the Coalition prime minister accused him of being a Communist pawn only to see United States President Richard Nixon announce his proposed visit to China a week later. Whitlam also attempted to redefine the alliance with the US.

● Medibank, the precursor to Medicare, was established.

● Social welfare reforms included the supporting mother's benefit and welfare payment for homeless people. Before 1973 only widows were entitled to pension payments, so other women who were raising children alone faced invidious choices. But the pension payment gave single mothers choices and options around the raising of their children. It also helped remove old stigmas around single mothers.

● Equal pay for women: One of the first acts of the Whitlam government was to reopen the National Wage and Equal Pay cases at the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission. The 1972 Equal Pay case meant that Australian women doing work similar to that done by men should be paid an equal wage. Two years later the commission extended the adult minimum wage to include women workers for the first time.

● The Postmaster-General's Department was replaced by the twin-headed Telecom and Australia Post.

● The Australian Legal Office and Australian Law Reform Commission were set up.

● The death penalty for Commonwealth offences was abolished. Melbourne escapee Ronald Ryan was the last man executed in Australia on February 3, 1967, for shooting a prison guard. Victoria and some state governments (not NSW which abolished capital punishment for murder in 1955) remained proponents of the death penalty. Whitlam's reforms led to the 2010 federal legislation prohibiting the reinstatement of capital punishment in all Australian states and territories.

● The Family Law Act providing for a national Family Court was enacted, and simplified, non-punitive divorce laws were introduced.

● The Whitlam government also established needs-based funding for schools after appointing Peter Karmel to head a committee examining the position of government and non-government primary and secondary schools throughout Australia. Karmel's report identified many inequities in the funding system, which for the first time led to the federal government providing funding to state schools.

● A free university education was briefly available to all Australians. In Whitlam's three years of government, participation in higher education increased by 25 per cent, to 276,559 enrolments. The main beneficiaries were women.

● Amid widespread business and union opposition, in 1973 the Australian economy was opened to the world by a 25 per cent cut in tariffs across the board. An early forerunner of the Productivity Commission was established as was the Trade Practices Act and a predecessor of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

● The Australian Assistance Plan to fund regional councils and employment projects continues in the concepts of "social planning" and "community development".

● The National Sewerage Program connected suburban homes to sewerage. The government spent $330 million on the program before it was cancelled by the Fraser government but in Sydney the backlog of unsewered properties fell from 158,884 in 1973 to 95,505 in 1978. Similarly, in Melbourne, the backlog was reduced from 160,000 in 1972-73, to 88,000 in 1978-79.

● The Whitlam government reduced the voting age to 18 and provided the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory with representation in the Senate.

● It replaced God Save the Queen with Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem.

● Queen Elizabeth became Queen of Australia when she signed her assent to The Royal Style and Titles Act 1973. The legislation also deleted the traditional reference to the Queen as Head of the Church of England by removing "Defender of the Faith" from her Australian titles.

● An Order of Australia replaced the British Honours system.

● The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 conferred rights to equality before the law and bound the Commonwealth and the states to the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.

● The Department of Aboriginal Affairs was set up and the first Commonwealth legislation to grant land rights to indigenous people was drafted. The subsequent Malcolm Fraser government passed the legislation.

● Land title deeds were handed to some Gurindji traditional lands owners in the Northern Territory in 1975, a real and symbolic gesture that became a touchstone for the land rights movement.

● The Whitlam government also established the National Gallery of Australia, the Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian Heritage Commission. It introduced FM radio, pushed for the setting up of 2JJ, a radio established to support Australian music and connect with young Australians. It set up multicultural radio services – 2EA Sydney and 3EA in Melbourne – and issued licences to community radio stations for the first time.

● The Australian film industry flowered and the Australian Film and Television School, an idea of a previous Coalition prime minister, John Gorton, was opened.

● Papua New Guinea became independent on September 16, 1975, after being administered from Australia since the First World War.


What did the Whitlam government ever do for us?

Free health cover?

Well, obviously, free health cover, but other than that, what did the Whitlam government ever do for us?

Malcolm Fraser: "...he changed the way Australians looked at themselves."

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

On an appropriately serious note, the very many achievements of the Whitlam government, from an article in the SMH:

Whitlam's short three-year shelf life as prime minister is generally recognised as one of Australia's most reforming governments.

Conservative government has been the norm in Australian politics since federation and the preference is for reform by increment rather than by rush. Consequently, much of what Gough Whitlam built – such as a free university education – has been torn down by successive governments on both sides of the political spectrum.

But what remains continues to shape Australia's national life like a guardian angel. Here is some of the Whitlam legacy:

● His government extricated Australia from the Vietnam War and abolished conscription. Australia had been fighting in South Vietnam since 1962. Two years later conscription was introduced but the first wave of baby boomers rebelled and eventually they, and their elders, took to the streets in moratorium nationwide marches that saw mass civil disobedience reflect the prevailing view. Labor's anti-war policy became one of Whitlam's most powerful election campaign assets.

● Whitlam took the demonology out of foreign policy, recognising China after the Coalition had refused contact with Beijing for 24 years. Whitlam ripped the rug from beneath Bill McMahon when he led a Labor delegation to China in July 1971 and the Coalition prime minister accused him of being a Communist pawn only to see United States President Richard Nixon announce his proposed visit to China a week later. Whitlam also attempted to redefine the alliance with the US.

● Medibank, the precursor to Medicare, was established.

● Social welfare reforms included the supporting mother's benefit and welfare payment for homeless people. Before 1973 only widows were entitled to pension payments, so other women who were raising children alone faced invidious choices. But the pension payment gave single mothers choices and options around the raising of their children. It also helped remove old stigmas around single mothers.

● Equal pay for women: One of the first acts of the Whitlam government was to reopen the National Wage and Equal Pay cases at the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission. The 1972 Equal Pay case meant that Australian women doing work similar to that done by men should be paid an equal wage. Two years later the commission extended the adult minimum wage to include women workers for the first time.

● The Postmaster-General's Department was replaced by the twin-headed Telecom and Australia Post.

● The Australian Legal Office and Australian Law Reform Commission were set up.

● The death penalty for Commonwealth offences was abolished. Melbourne escapee Ronald Ryan was the last man executed in Australia on February 3, 1967, for shooting a prison guard. Victoria and some state governments (not NSW which abolished capital punishment for murder in 1955) remained proponents of the death penalty. Whitlam's reforms led to the 2010 federal legislation prohibiting the reinstatement of capital punishment in all Australian states and territories.

● The Family Law Act providing for a national Family Court was enacted, and simplified, non-punitive divorce laws were introduced.

● The Whitlam government also established needs-based funding for schools after appointing Peter Karmel to head a committee examining the position of government and non-government primary and secondary schools throughout Australia. Karmel's report identified many inequities in the funding system, which for the first time led to the federal government providing funding to state schools.

● A free university education was briefly available to all Australians. In Whitlam's three years of government, participation in higher education increased by 25 per cent, to 276,559 enrolments. The main beneficiaries were women.

● Amid widespread business and union opposition, in 1973 the Australian economy was opened to the world by a 25 per cent cut in tariffs across the board. An early forerunner of the Productivity Commission was established as was the Trade Practices Act and a predecessor of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

● The Australian Assistance Plan to fund regional councils and employment projects continues in the concepts of "social planning" and "community development".

● The National Sewerage Program connected suburban homes to sewerage. The government spent $330 million on the program before it was cancelled by the Fraser government but in Sydney the backlog of unsewered properties fell from 158,884 in 1973 to 95,505 in 1978. Similarly, in Melbourne, the backlog was reduced from 160,000 in 1972-73, to 88,000 in 1978-79.

● The Whitlam government reduced the voting age to 18 and provided the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory with representation in the Senate.

● It replaced God Save the Queen with Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem.

● Queen Elizabeth became Queen of Australia when she signed her assent to The Royal Style and Titles Act 1973. The legislation also deleted the traditional reference to the Queen as Head of the Church of England by removing "Defender of the Faith" from her Australian titles.

● An Order of Australia replaced the British Honours system.

● The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 conferred rights to equality before the law and bound the Commonwealth and the states to the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.

● The Department of Aboriginal Affairs was set up and the first Commonwealth legislation to grant land rights to indigenous people was drafted. The subsequent Malcolm Fraser government passed the legislation.

● Land title deeds were handed to some Gurindji traditional lands owners in the Northern Territory in 1975, a real and symbolic gesture that became a touchstone for the land rights movement.

● The Whitlam government also established the National Gallery of Australia, the Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian Heritage Commission. It introduced FM radio, pushed for the setting up of 2JJ, a radio established to support Australian music and connect with young Australians. It set up multicultural radio services – 2EA Sydney and 3EA in Melbourne – and issued licences to community radio stations for the first time.

● The Australian film industry flowered and the Australian Film and Television School, an idea of a previous Coalition prime minister, John Gorton, was opened.

● Papua New Guinea became independent on September 16, 1975, after being administered from Australia since the First World War.


What did the Whitlam government ever do for us?

Free health cover?

Well, obviously, free health cover, but other than that, what did the Whitlam government ever do for us?

Malcolm Fraser: "...he changed the way Australians looked at themselves."

Arguably the most influential Australian Prime Minister's (personally think Menzies and Howard just surpass him) and must be congratulated on a fantastic innings of 98 and l can thank him for much of our social welfare apparatus, despite its minor flaws, and his above achievements (Troops were already withdrawing from Vietnam, but Gough sped up the process fantastically), few prime minister's in history can even equal what Gough achieved.

 

[Istanbul Roo]

Thanks Kimbo, what a list of reforms, some still in play. It took the AFL 35 years to follow up on the racial discrimination act in footy ...

What did the Romans ever do for us ... sanitation and sewerage!

 

[Kimbo]

Arguably the most influential Australian Prime Minister's (personally think Menzies and Howard just surpass him) and must be congratulated on a fantastic innings of 98 and l can thank him for much of our social welfare apparatus, despite its minor flaws, and his above achievements (Troops were already withdrawing from Vietnam, but Gough sped up the process fantastically), few prime minister's in history can even equal what Gough achieved.

Putting aside our ideological differences, one of the things that stuck with me as a child/teenager was my parents' commentary about how Gough transformed the landscape of Australian politics in terms of bringing it into the pubic debate. And I'm not talking about the scandal stuff; more the fact that he enlivened public discourse. The other to do that was Bob Hawke who similarly made you think about the issues.

You'd like this one from back in the early Hawke years:

What's the difference between Bob Hawke and Malcolm Fraser?
Malcolm Fraser is passionately concerned about Apartheid.

 

[Bigeasy]

Great man, great thinker and great ideas. Thanks Gough.

 

[GreatBradScott]

First man to get a cafe into Parliament house :sternlook:




Seriously, thoughts with his family and was a great Australian leader.

 

[WesternRoo]

98 is a great innings, may he rest in peace. Obviously a passionate man who stuck to what he believed in, which you have to respect.

But to vale him on here is a bit much, considering a good portion of Australia (including many labor voters I know) would have him on the podium with Gillard and Rudd for the top 3 worst Prime Ministers we have had.

Since when did this become a political forum beyond selection issues and why we don't have a cafe at Arden St?!

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Thanks Kimbo, what a list of reforms, some still in play. It took the AFL 35 years to follow up on the racial discrimination act in footy ...

What did the Romans ever do for us ... sanitation and sewerage!

Aqueducts, descent paved roads, how to exterminate entire races, improvements to architecture and to worship a mythical she-wolf.

 

[Kimbo]

98 is a great innings, may he rest in peace. Obviously a passionate man who stuck to what he believed in, which you have to respect.

But to vale him on here is a bit much, considering a good portion of Australia (including many labor voters I know) would have him on the podium with Gillard and Rudd for the top 3 worst Prime Ministers we have had.

Since when did this become a political forum beyond selection issues and why we don't have a cafe at Arden St?!

Vale = farewell = too much?!

Gough will always be a controversial figure. Worshipped by the left for his genuinely reformist tendencies and his socialist/egalitarian concerns (the last truly 'labor' PM) while at the same time reviled by the right and the centre for his 'irresponsible' fiscal management and 'crash through or crash' approach. In the end, I think, both are right.

If this forum can discuss EPL and say farewell to Robin Williams, it can certainly farewell Gough. Australians, it seems to me, are so friggin' scared to voice views that in any way indicate 'political' views or leanings. Let's leave anything vaguely emotional to the footy, eh?

 

[Liam Boy]

It really says something about the state of this country that the current Prime Minister is less progressive then the Prime Minister of 40 years ago.

Vale Gough. Every Australian should be grateful for your work.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

It really says something about the state of this country that the current Prime Minister is less progressive then the Prime Minister of 40 years ago.

Vale Gough. Every Australian should be grateful for your work.

Well Abbott is a conservative head of a conservative party.

 

[MaddAdam]

3rd in the ALP best and fairest behind John Curtin and Paul Keating for mine.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Vale = farewell = too much?!

Gough will always be a controversial figure. Worshipped by the left for his genuinely reformist tendencies and his socialist/egalitarian concerns (the last truly 'labor' PM) while at the same time reviled by the right and the centre for his 'irresponsible' fiscal management and 'crash through or crash' approach. In the end, I think, both are right.

If this forum can discuss EPL and say farewell to Robin Williams, it can certainly farewell Gough. Australians, it seems to me, are so friggin' scared to voice views that in any way indicate 'political' views or leanings. Let's leave anything vaguely emotional to the footy, eh?

Getting sick of your hippy loving commie ways kimbo. :disconcerting look alongside a :stern look.