Gough Whitlam |
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC (born 11 July 1916), known as Gough Whitlam (pronounced "Goff") became Australias 21st Prime Minister on 5 December 1972.
A member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), Whitlam entered Federal Parliament in 1952, winning a by-election for the Division of Werriwa in New South Wales.
In 1960 Whitlam was elected deputy leader of the ALP and in 1967, following the resignation of Arthur Calwell after a disastrous election defeat the year before, he assumed the position of Leader of the Opposition.
After initially falling short of gaining enough seats to win government at the 1969 election, Whitlam led the Labor Party to victory at the 1972 election after 23 years of Liberal-Country Party government in Australia.
After winning the 1974 election, he was dismissed in 1975 by Governor-General Sir John Kerr following a protracted constitutional crisis caused by a refusal of opposition Coalition members to pass Supply Bills in the Australian Senate, and lost the subsequent 1975 election.
He is the only Australian Prime Minister to be dismissed by the Governor-General, using reserve powers. Although his government spent a relatively short time in office, many of the policies and institutions set up under it are still evident today, such as Medicare.
His presidential style of politics, the socially progressive policies he pursued, and the dramatic dismissal and subsequent election loss still arouse intense passion and debate.
Gough Whitlam was born in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne. His father, Fred Whitlam, was a federal public servant who served as Commonwealth Crown Solicitor. Whitlam seniors involvement in human rights issues was a powerful influence on his son. Whitlam then studied law at the University of Sydney.
During the Second World War he served overseas as a navigator in the Royal Australian Air Forces No. 13 Squadron, reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant. He completed his studies after the war and was admitted to the New South Wales bar in 1947.
On 22 April 1942 Whitlam married Margaret Dovey, daughter of Judge Bill Dovey, and had three sons and a daughter. Margaret Whitlam is known for having a sardonic wit equal to that of her husband and is a published author as well as a former champion swimmer.
On the 60th anniversary of their marriage in 2002, he claimed a record for "matrimonial endurance"amongst politicians.
One of their sons, Nicholas Whitlam, became a prominent banker and a controversial figure in his own right. Another, Tony Whitlam, was briefly a federal MP and was appointed as a judge in 1993 to the Federal Court of Australia, and later in 1994 a judge of the ACT Supreme Court. A third son, Stephen Whitlam (b. 1950), is a former diplomat. Daughter Catherine Dovey (b. 1954) formerly served on the New South Wales Parole Board.
Whitlams impetus to become involved in politics was the Chifley governments post-war referendum to gain increased powers for the federal government. He joined the Australian Labor Party in 1945 and in 1950 was a Labor candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly: a contest he was later grateful to have lost.
When Hubert Lazzarini, the sitting member for the safe Federal electorate of Werriwa, died in 1952, Whitlam was elected to the House of Representatives at the by-election on 29 November 1952.
Noted since his school-days for his erudition, eloquence and incisive wit, Whitlam soon became one of the ALPs star performers.
Widely acknowledged as one of the best political speakers and parliamentary debaters of his time, he was also one of the few in the ALP who could hold his own against Robert Menzies on the floor of the House.
After the electoral success of the Curtin and Chifley years, the 1950s were a grim and divisive time for Labor. The Liberal-Country Party coalition government of Robert Menzies gained power in the election of 1949 and governed for a record 23 years. Chifley died in June 1951. His replacement, Dr H.V. Evatt, lacked Chifleys conciliatory skills.
Whitlam admired Evatt greatly, and was a loyal supporter of his leadership, through a period dominated by the Labor split of 1955, which resulted in the Catholic right wing of the party breaking off to form the Democratic Labor Party (DLP).
In 1960, having lost three elections, Evatt resigned, to be replaced by Arthur Calwell, with Whitlam winning the election for deputy over veteran Labor MP Eddie Ward. Calwell came within a handful of votes of winning the 1961 election, but progressively lost ground from that time onward.
The ALP, having been founded as a party to represent the working classes, still regarded its parliamentary representatives as servants of the party as a whole, and required them to comply with official party policy. This led to the celebrated Faceless Men picture of 1963, which showed Calwell and Whitlam waiting outside a Canberra hotel for the decision of an ALP Federal Conference.
Prime Minister Menzies used it to great advantage in the November 1963 election campaign, drawing attention to "the famous outside body, thirty-six faceless men whose qualifications are unknown, who have no electoral responsibility."
Whitlam was quick to respond, and spent years struggling for party reform - at one stage, dubbing his opponents "the 12 witless men"- and eventually succeeded in having the secretive Labor Party National Conference turned into an open public forum, with state representatives elected in proportion to their membership, and with both state and federal parliamentary leaders being automatic members.
Through the 1960s, Whitlams relationship with Calwell and the right wing of the party remained uneasy. Whitlam opposed several key Labor policies, including nationalisation of industry, refusal of state aid to religious schools, and Calwells continued support for the White Australia Policy.
His stances brought him into direct conflict with the ALP leadership on several occasions and he was almost expelled from the party in 1966 because of his vocal support for government aid to private schools, which the ALP opposed.
In January 1966, Menzies finally retired after a record term in office. His successor as Liberal Party leader, Harold Holt, led the coalition to a landslide election victory in November on a pro-American, pro-Vietnam War policy.
This crushing defeat prompted Calwell to step down in early 1967. Gough Whitlam then became Leader of the Opposition, narrowly defeating his rival, Jim Cairns.
Custom dictated that Whitlam should have waited until the process of vote counting was complete, and then call a Caucus meeting to elect his Ministers ready to be sworn in by the Governor-General.
Meanwhile, the outgoing Prime Minister would remain in office as a caretaker. Howe'ver, unwilling to wait, Whitlam had himself and Deputy Leader Lance Barnard sworn in as a two-man government as soon as the overall result was beyond doubt, on 5 December 1972, the Tuesday after the Saturday election; they held all the portfolios between them (see First Whitlam Ministry).
Whitlam later said: "The Caucus I joined in 1972 had as many Boer War veterans as men who had seen active service in World War II, three from each. The Ministry appointed on the fifth of December 1972 was composed entirely of ex-servicemen: Lance Barnard and me."
The full ministry was sworn in on 19 December. The crisis of 1975 was precipitated by the Senate delaying the Whitlam governments money (Supply) bill.
In October 1975, the Opposition moved to delay consideration of the budget in the Senate. This delay would have resulted in essential public services ceasing to function due to lack of money; that is to say Whitlam attempted to govern without supply and no government had ever attempted such a course of action.
Fraser warned that the bill would not be passed unless Whitlam called an early election. Whitlam was determined to face the Opposition down, and proposed to borrow money from the banks to keep the government running.
He was confident that some of the more moderate Liberal Senators would back down when the situation worsened as appropriations ran out during November and December.
The Governor-General Sir John Kerr was concerned about the legality of Whitlams proposals for borrowing money, and to govern without Supply, although the Solicitor-General and Attorney-General had scrutinised them for legality.
On 11 November 1975, Kerr in accordance with Section 64 exercised his power and revoked Whitlams commission and installed Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister, with instructions to make no policy changes, no appointments, no dismissals and call an immediate federal election.
At 2.45 pm Fraser announced he was caretaker Prime Minister, had the Supply Bills passed and was advising a double dissolution election.
On hearing the proclamation dissolving Parliament, which ended with the traditional God Save the Queen, Whitlam delivered an impromptu address to the crowd that had gathered in front of the steps of Parliament House.
During the speech he labelled Fraser as "Kerrs cur"and told the crowd: "Ladies and gentlemen, well may we say God Save the Queen, because nothing will save the Governor-General."
In the House of Representatives Whitlam moved a motion that this House expresses its want of confidence in the Prime Minister and requests Mr Speaker forthwith to advise His Excellency the Governor-General to call on me to form a government.
This vote of confidence in Whitlam was passed on party lines. News of this vote was delivered personally to Kerr by the Speaker of the House Gordon Scholes, but Kerr refused to see the Speaker until after his Official Secretary had read the notice of double dissolution at Parliament House at 4.45 pm.
In the leadup to the resulting election, Whitlam called upon his supporters to "maintain your rage". Despite this, the ALP suffered a 7.4% swing against them and Whitlam was to remain as Opposition Leader until his defeat in the 1977 election.
During its three years in power, the Whitlam government was responsible for a long list of legislative reforms, some of which
still stand today.
It replaced Australias adversarial divorce laws with a new, no-fault system; introduced the Trade Practices Act; slashed tariff barriers; ended conscription; introduced a universal national health insurance scheme Medibank, now known as Medicare; gave independence to Papua New Guinea; made all university education free to its recipients; introduced needs-based federal funding for private schools; established the long-awaited "third tier"in Australian radio by legislating for the establishment of community-based FM radio (commercial FM radio would be established under his successor Fraser); and established diplomatic and trade relations with the Peoples Republic of China.
Howe'ver, Whitlams critics point to substantial failings in his administration. The economy declined, with adverse balance-of-payments problems, high unemployment and (by Australian standards) very high inflation and bank interest rates.
External factors contributed to this, in particular the 1973 oil crisis and resulting higher world oil prices, and falling prices for Australian farm produce. But the Whitlam governments own economic policies - such as its controversial 1973 decision to reduce tariffs across the board by 25% - were also held partly responsible.
On social matters his reputation has been tarnished by his complicity in refusing to act against the pro-separatist movement on Bougainville on 1 September 1975, just two weeks before PNG independence on 16 September 1975; allowing Indonesia to invade Portuguese Timor on 7 December 1975 and later annex the territory (although the invasion of Dili occurred the month after his dismissal, the "covert"military campaign across the Indonesian border had begun in October).
Whitlam also refused to allow South Vietnamese refugees into the country following the fall of Saigon in 1975, concerned that they would have anti-communist sympathies hostile to the Australian Labor Party.
The autocratic Whitlams "crash through or crash"style made many political enemies, and the various scandals afflicting the government cost it electoral support and momentum. His crash through or crash style was also his Achilles heel surrounding the lead-up to the dismissal.
Some Australians regarded his dismissal by the Governor-General as an outrage, but the Australian electorate voted to replace the Whitlam government by a record margin, and the Labor Party would not be a serious candidate for government again until Whitlam was replaced as leader.
The Whitlam government was also greatly damaged by several highly publicised scandals, most notably the disastrous "Loans Affair"masterminded by Rex Connor, the series of controversies over the questionable conduct of Treasurer and deputy party leader Jim Cairns, and the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.
Howe'ver, Whitlams book The Truth Of The Matter recounts legal steps essayed in the attempt to obtain or bypass parliamentary supply.
East Timor
In September 2000 the Department of Foreign Affairs released previously secret files that showed that comments by the Whitlam Labor government encouraged the Suharto regime in Indonesia to invade East Timor in 1975.
Two months after the Portuguese military began to withdraw from East Timor, Whitlam, through his private secretary Peter Wilenski suggested to the Suharto regime that it launch undercover operations to ensure East Timors incorporation into Indonesia.
Whitlam met Suharto in central Java in September 1974 and described East Timor as, "too small to be independent". An Indonesian general is quoted as saying that the September 1974 meeting, "crystallised Suhartos thinking on the matter".
The subsequent 27-yearlong Indonesian occupation of East Timor led to the deaths of an estimated 200,000 Timorese people. The Indonesian invasion of East Timor also resulted in the murder of the Balibo Five, five Australian journalists that Whitlam criticised as "foolhardy", and "the source of a long running media vendetta against Indonesia."
Whitlam was appointed Queens Counsel in 1962 and a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1978. In 2005 He was created an honourary Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of Melanesia by the Governor General of Papua New Guinea.
In 2006 both he and Malcolm Fraser were awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun by the Emperor of Japan, in recognition of their role in improving relations between Japan and Australia.
Whitlam is an honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Sydney, the University of Wollongong, La Trobe University and the University of Technology, Sydney.
In April 2007, Gough and Margaret Whitlam were made life members of the Australian Labor Party. This was the first time anyone had become life members at the national level of the Party organisation.
❊ Web Links ❊
➼ Gough Whitlam
➼ Gough Whitlam - Wikipedia
➼ Whitlam Institute
➼ Gough Whitlam at the National Film and Sound Archive
❊ Also See.. ❊
➼ National Archives of Australia
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