Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I do thank you for the opportunity to speak this morning on the passing of the honourable Gough Whitlam AC, QC, the 21st Prime Minister of this great country.

As the elected member for Braddon I represent everyone in this place. It is my job to give everybody a voice so, notwithstanding that my electorate were very divided politically during the historical constitutional events of 1975, it is more than appropriate for me to pay tribute to Gough Whitlam's passionate public service.

On behalf of the Braddon electorate I do convey our condolences to the family of Mr Whitlam. While many in this place and in the community have spoken great things about the man, his passing will nonetheless be a time of great sadness for his family, who have lost not just their father but their mother in very recent years.

When Mr Whitlam passed away last week, this parliament and the media were flooded with stories of Gough's wit, his wisdom and humour. It seemed that everyone had a personal story of Gough and they seemingly cherished the opportunity to tell it.

I, like many in parliament, was young—not as young as the member who spoke before me!—I was 15 and in my last year of high school, when the events that Gough is perhaps most famous for transpired—obviously, that was on Remembrance Day 1975. But I do remember a towering giant of a man: a statesman; and man who appeared to me to have presence, great wit, great intelligence and, despite any political differences that I may have grown to have, a man who one could not do anything but admire.

I did come to admire this man—not necessarily for his politics or for his time in office, but for the way he handled his dismissal and as the years rolled on. I have heard many people talk of Gough's upbringing, of his entry into politics, of his conviction and his government's success—or otherwise. There is much to be said about a person's convictions and their willingness to come to this place and to act on those convictions in a meaningful and tangible way. But, of course—for all of us—strength of conviction and an array of new ideas alone is not enough to govern a nation. And this, no doubt, is where political historians will do battle for many years to come.

Some in this place have spoken much about the Australia he inherited. But much could be spoken about the Australia he left. But that is not for today. Rather, I will confine my brief comments now to my observations of Gough and Margaret Whitlam in the years following his dismissal.

Too often history is littered with fallen political leaders beset with hatred, bitterness and malice. This was not so, however, with either Gough or Margaret Whitlam. I do not doubt for a moment that in the days and weeks and years that followed the dismissal, leading eventually to his resignation from the parliament in 1978, that Gough and Margaret felt a sense of deep hurt and disappointment in what had happened, and I am sure that forgiveness did not quite stretch far enough to reach the Governor-General of the day. However, it seemed to me that Gough did not allow these events to dampen his convictions or to cease in his contribution to Australian society. This attitude, it seems to me, was a testament to the strength of his character and allowed the legend of Gough to flourish, along with his sense of humour, his wit and his wisdom, as I said earlier. For me, though, his legacy in many areas of public policy will be debated for decades—and that is okay; that is politics.

But I do believe there is one characteristic of Mr Whitlam's life about which there appears to be agreement across the political divide, and that is his loyalty. What tremendous loyalty this man showed, over 70 years, to the love of his life. What tremendous loyalty this man showed to his children and those close to him. What loyalty this man showed to his mates in the 13 Squadron of the RAAF. But what stood out for me, as a member of parliament in both the Tasmanian parliament and, more recently, here, is that Gough Whitlam remained loyal to the political party that enabled him to become their leader and ultimately their Prime Minister. Through thick and thin, he was loyal to 'the one that brought him'. He stuck around as Leader of the Opposition after the massive and, in my view, justifiable rejection of his government by the Australian people. Following yet another defeat, he chose to move on from the rancour of this place, but he always found it in him to stand by future Labor leaders and prime ministers. I am sure there were many times when he would have privately cursed as he watched Labor prime ministers to come, like Hawke and Keating, in some way deconstruct his legacy. He could have chosen the path of bitterness, irrelevance and obscurity, but he did not. Gough Whitlam was a loyal Labor man dedicated to the cause of the party and always willing to stand up and be counted for his party when it counted. Ironically, this stands in stark contrast to the man who took the Prime Ministership from him on that eventful day in November 1975.

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