Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

It is indeed a privilege to be able to stand here and speak about Gough Whitlam. I begin by extending my condolences to his family members and his close personal friends, by whom his passing will be felt the most and for whom the loss will be the greatest.

I met Gough and Margaret Whitlam on several occasions, but I do not claim to have had a close personal friendship with them. But, as an ALP campaigner at the time, I well remember Gough's rise to the top, his period as Prime Minister and leader of the ALP and his departure from parliament. I also knew well many of the South Australian members of parliament that served with Gough in parliament during the Whitlam years. I refer particularly to people like Clyde and Don Cameron, Ralph Jacobi, Chris Hurford, Jim Cavanagh, Reg Bishop and the great Mick Young.

With the exception of a few intellectual lightweights, there has been universal acclamation that Gough Whitlam was an exceptional character. Indeed, that so much has been said about him since his death speaks for itself. No other Australian political character in my own lifetime has inspired so many or evoked so much passion by both admirers and detractors. Even those who speak negatively of him begrudgingly acknowledge his dominant presence. He was an extraordinary man. He was one of a kind—a unique individual. Everything about him was extraordinary—his persona, his intellect, his wit, his achievements, his rise to fame, his failures and his demise were all extraordinary features of Gough Whitlam. Just as extraordinary is that such an exceptional person, whom today the nation widely acknowledges, was so convincingly rejected by the Australian people in 1975.

Gough was ahead of his time. His vision was not readily accepted at the time, and it was only after changes were bedded down that the wider community saw the value of Labor's reforms. They have withstood the test of time. His sacking, conceived by the two highest non-political officers in the land, the Chief Justice of the High Court and the Governor-General of the day, was the greatest political miscarriage of justice I can point to. It was also the greatest test of the Governor-General's powers and the Australian Constitution that Australia had ever been confronted with, and the first and only time that an Australian Prime Minister was removed from office by a Governor-General.

The diverse array of Whitlam's front bench, a double dissolution, breaking of convention and appointment by the Queensland Bjelke-Petersen government of Albert Field to the Senate all add to the extraordinary turbulence of the Whitlam government era. But it was also the greatest reforming government Australia had ever seen. For myself as a South Australian, the election of the Whitlam federal government after 23 years of a Liberal government, followed closely after the re-election of the Dunstan Labor government after 28 years of Liberals in South Australia, was a great time. Whilst they were very different in character and stature, politically Don Dunstan and Gough Whitlam had very much in common. Both were well educated intellectuals. Both were brilliant lawyers and had been appointed QCs. Both had been elected to parliament in the early 1950s. Both came from relatively well-to-do families and neither came from a union background. Importantly, and sometimes together, they changed Australia.

Between 1972 and 1975, over 500 bills were passed by the Whitlam government. It was an extraordinary achievement, given that there was an election in between, in 1974, and that so much of the legislation was anything but routine changes of law. Ending conscription, consumer protection, Indigenous issues, the arts, the environment, multiculturalism, human rights, foreign affairs, equality, abolishing High Court appeals to the Privy Council, education and health care were all placed on Gough Whitlam and Don Dunstan's agenda, and the reform process began. For South Australians, the reforms were simultaneously being enshrined into both state and federal laws. It was, indeed, a time of great change. National ALP secretary Mick Young, who was based in South Australia, was a common link between Gough and Don during this critical period.

There has been some conjecture about who abolished the White Australia policy, with some crediting former Prime Minister Harold Holt and others Gough Whitlam. My understanding is that both can take credit for it, with the process commencing under Holt and being sealed by Whitlam. It was also Gough Whitlam, jointly with Don Dunstan, who in the mid-1960s moved to abolish the White Australia policy from Labor's platform. It was under Gough Whitlam that Labor brought in the Racial Discrimination Act, acknowledged Australia as a multicultural nation and promoted equality amongst all peoples.

Following the Whitlam government's defeat, from 1976 to 1981 I was employed by Senator Jim Cavanagh. Senator Cavanagh had served as a minister throughout the Whitlam government era in what I believe was his most significant role, Minister for Indigenous Affairs. He was the minister who oversaw the original draft of the Northern Territory land rights legislation which—although it was subsequently passed under the Fraser government because of the termination of the Whitlam government—was indeed a Labor initiative. One of my first tasks with Senator Cavanagh was to identify any differences between Labor's legislation and the Fraser government's redrafted bills. There was very little difference that I could spot. The land rights legislation was a major breakthrough in having the Indigenous people's connection with their land finally recognised.

When Jim Cavanagh passed away in 1990, Gough Whitlam attended and spoke at his funeral held at the Port Adelaide town hall, as he had done with so many of his other former cabinet colleagues. He valued all of his former government colleagues.

There is often a tendency to embellish a person's life when speaking about them after their death. But Gough Whitlam's life needs no embellishment. By all measures Gough was an exceptional person. As more years pass, his achievements become clearer. His determination is vindicated and in turn Gough becomes legendary. It was the Whitlam government that opened up Australia to the world and the world to Australia. It was under the Whitlam government that Australia came of age as an independent free-thinking nation that could stand on its own two feet.

It was under the Whitlam government that Australia took control of its destiny, and Australia did that without breaking away from the Commonwealth or becoming a republic. Whilst today we take such matters for granted, that was not the case in the 1970s when community attitudes were very different. Whitlam's reforms took courage, determination and persuasiveness. Gough Whitlam was not driven by what was popular but by what was right, convinced that in time all Australians would see the righteousness of his direction. And indeed his reforms have withstood the test of time. Whilst many may try to emulate him or match his political stature, I doubt that Australia will ever again have a political leader of the ilk of Gough Whitlam.

In a service befitting his legendary status, Gough was farewelled by a crowd of thousands at the Sydney Town Hall memorial service. I felt privileged to have been there and to have lived through the Whitlam government era. The service brought to a close the Whitlam era, but his reforms endure and Gough Whitlam will long be remembered. I thank Gough Whitlam for his contribution to Australian life.

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