Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that the 50th anniversary of the Whitlam Government's election will be marked on 2 December 2022; and

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) the Whitlam Government's reforms modernised Australian society and its economy; and

(b) the impact of Prime Minister Whitlam's policies continues to define Australia and the political landscape.

This Friday, 50 years ago, on 2 December 1972, the Hon. Gough Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party into government. It was the first Labor government in 23 years. For my family, it was a time of hope for a better Australia. My mum and dad were always politically interested. They were excited that working-class people like them from the outer suburbs would have their voices elevated to the national stage. They lived in Mr Whitlam's electorate. Although young, I remember the change of hope for them then and the 'It's time' stickers on the car and my bike. Whitlam offered Australians a progressive vision, one that looked to a federal government that actively fixed the issues that faced the country. On that day, the Australian people gave Whitlam a mandate to implement that change.

This change affected other families, not just mine. I was talking to the member for Dobell, the Hon. Emma McBride, and she explained to me how the Whitlam government changed Australia and the life of her father, the late Hon. Grant McBride. Her uncle, Shaun, today confirmed a story that was told to Emma many years ago. It was Sunday morning, and he was reading the Nation Review and spotted an advertisement for an electorate officer in Werriwa. It was after the dismissal, and he said to her dad, 'Don't just talk about it; do something about it'. Her dad, maintaining the enthusiasm and the rage, applied for the role. He was culled by Whitlam's private secretary, as he didn't have the necessary experience. But, as the story goes, Whitlam hadn't worked with an engineer before, so Grant, a young man from housing commission in Dundas Valley who worked three jobs to support himself through uni, was now working for a former PM who made education free. It instilled in him a belief that politics, although flawed, is the way that people without connections or resources can change the country. The McBride family are deeply grateful for the chance that Gough took on their dad.

The social and economic program that was taken to the 1972 election was broad and far reaching, yet it was captured in the simple and famous slogan, 'It's time.' It was time for Australia to move on from economic and political stagnation, and it was time for Australia to establish itself in the Pacific and throughout the world. That was one of the legacies of the Whitlam government. In the three short years of his government, he radically transformed the Australian economy and laid the foundation for what is modern-day Australia.

It can't be understated how significant the Whitlam era was for Australia, because Whitlam believed that government programs could improve the conditions of everyday Australians, and he delivered on those ambitions. Within the first few weeks of government, Whitlam and the deputy prime minister Lance Barnard ended conscription, established diplomatic relations with China, reopened an equal-pay case and withdrew all remaining troops from Vietnam. In its first year, his government passed 203 bills. The domestic policies of the Whitlam era elevated Australians all over the country. It saw the complete restructuring of the relationship between government and education. Whitlam oversaw the abolition of university fees and an increase in government spending to state schools by 677 per cent whilst he was attempting to close the gap between private and public schools.

It was under the Whitlam government that we saw the introduction of non-discriminatory immigration rules and the Racial Discrimination Act and the enthusiastic pursuit of multiculturalism—something that we see all over Australia today but particularly in the electorate of Werriwa that he represented.

It was the Whitlam government that improved our suburbs, whether they be in south-west Sydney or across Australia. The legacy of the Whitlam government can be felt across south-west Sydney. He was the first and so-far only Prime Minister to come from our part of the world and we are very proud of that. His legacy is echoed throughout the area I represent. There are buildings and parks named in his honour. The Whitlam Institute houses the Whitlam Prime Ministerial Collection of more than 35,000 objects and is a centre of ideas and political engagement. The Whitlam government was the foundation of the modern Labor Party and I take pride in the accomplishments of his government. We remember a Labor government that truly uplifted the people of Australia, that established Australia in our region and in the world and that changed us all forever.

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Russell Broadbent (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Werriwa for her outline of a great, changing time in Australia, when the Whitlam government was elected after many years of conservative governments. But there's always more to the story. I've never put this on record and today is the day I want to put it on record. At that time, when the Whitlam government was elected, I had just opened my first retail store, which sold fabrics and knitting wool, and I was also the lead singer, manager and owner of a band called the Trutones. Through Barry Simon, whom I was close to at the time—he lived in my district and was the member for McMillan—we were asked to do Billy McMahon's event. He said, 'Would you come along and be the entertainment for Billy McMahon at the Malvern Town Hall?' I said, 'Yes, I will. Of course I will.' We went along and did that and we saw all the ministers. It was my first exposure to politics. I think John Howard was actually standing beside Billy moving the speech notes as he went through. This was all new for me.

A few weeks later, after the election, we were the house band at the new Palais and we were there when Gough and Margaret walked in to the victory celebration in Melbourne. But there was an issue—there's always more to the story. One of the fabrics in my store was a beautiful seersucker, a tartan hot-pink and lime check material—it was beautiful at the time. I'd noticed this fabric in my shop and I said, 'Righto. I'll go to dressmaker and I'll make an outfit for the whole band,' which I did. It was fantastic. We had the bow tie, we had the pink trousers, we had the pink shirt, we had the seersucker jacket and we had the great high-heeled boots—I think they were white or pink; I'm not sure what colour they were.

An honourable member: Have you still got them?

No, I haven't. They go off to parties with my sons and never come home.

So here we are. We've got our outfits on and Gough and Margaret are about to walk into the room. There's one big problem: Margaret Whitlam walks in and her long frock is made out of the material that I'm wearing. So I said to the boys one by one: 'You stop playing now and you take your jacket off, then you take your jacket off, then you take your jacket off, and then you take your jacket off.' Now, we weren't the only ones. There was a woman standing there in the audience—and there were 700 people there; it was huge—and she'd made herself a dress too. And she looked at Margaret Whitlam and Margaret Whitlam looked at her, and she went straight out the back door—obviously, to go home to change her clothes because Margaret had this on.

I want to say to you: Gough Whitlam was really good to me as an unknown backbencher. He actually knew all of us. I walked into the parliament one day. There was a major function on, and Gough and Margaret were walking beside Bronwyn and me. We got ourselves in the wrong place for the official things to come through, and Gough said to me—to me, an unknown—'Russell, come over here and stand beside me. You won't be noticed; it's all right.' And, of course, we were in the absolute spotlight at that function.

He was so genuine and generous to people around him. He knew them and he actually cared what they thought, and he took a real interest in this parliament long after his days as Prime Minister of this country. I can only honour that. Margaret was always so kind to us as well. However people want to paint that particular government and whatever the chaos that went on in those times, they are probably reflective of the Australian community and where we were at. But as far as the man and the woman went, there was such generosity, such wisdom and such knowledge.

He may have been let down by a few of his own, but it wasn't of his own making. I repeat: it wasn't of his own making. This man stood tall and, like very few in the parliament, he commanded the parliament. As Menzies had commanded the parliament. As had, in more recent times, Paul Keating—and perhaps John Howard was his comfort in the parliament, knowing the parliament. There are very few people who come into the House, and I'm getting the Library to check how many have gone out of the house since I arrived—it's a great number of members have left the lower house since that time.

The theme was 'It's Time', and for Australia it was time. We did change, and the ramifications of that government still continue through the policies and the actions of governments of today. I thank you for the opportunity to share that story with you.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't think it's dramatic to say that if it weren't for Gough Whitlam I would not be here today, because it was the Whitlam government, elected 50 years ago on 2 December, that opened the door of opportunity for my family—for the generations that came before me and that allowed the doors of opportunity to open for me and to bring me to this place.

I've told this story before, but it's one that I think about often because of how significant it is to my trajectory and to the trajectories of those who come from families like mine. After the Second World War decimated Italy and Europe, my grandparents, like many other Italians and Greeks at the time, made the decision to come to Australia to find a better future. When they arrived they found that things were tough. They worked gruelling hours in difficult jobs in factories, needing two incomes to raise their families, often sharing homes other families because they did not make enough to get by.

My grandfather, my nonno, had been a promising student in Italy, but his education was cut short by war and poverty. When Gough Whitlam became Prime Minister he opened the door for people like my nonno to go to university. My nonno became a teacher and not only was he able to realise his professional ambition, but he was able to realise his ambition for his family: to build a comfortable life and to ensure his kids had access to opportunity and a great education. There is no question that my life has been easier because of the way access to education has now been opened up for so many Australians. This is largely a legacy of the Whitlam years. This education has equipped me to make contributions to my community and I'm honoured to be able to do that as the member for Chisholm.

It is my greatest ambition that every single person in Australia is able to access the highest-quality education to pursue the path that they choose and for however long I am here and have the enormous, incredible honour of representing the people of Chisholm, I'll work hard towards this goal. The achievements of the Whitlam government are considerable, and they shaped the country we are today in profound ways. The first universal health system in Australia was instituted by the Whitlam government. And although those opposite have gotten rid of it before, and unfortunately consistently undermine it, Medicare and the idea that every single Australian should be able to get health care when they need it, is part of our psyche. It is part of the fair go we as Australians rightly and proudly champion. Labor will always, always defend it, and I know how important the legacy of universal health care is to our communities. My parents were both health workers and I was raised to believe in the idea that no matter your economic circumstances, the right to health care is one everyone should have.

My community in Chisholm is a vibrant, multicultural one. I cannot imagine an Australia that is not diverse. And Gough Whitlam's role in looking to the world and wanting our wonderful nation to be part of an international community and to embrace our neighbours is a terrific legacy. Establishing diplomatic relations with China is an important achievement from that time.

Gough Whitlam dismantled the White Australia Policy, something I'm sure we're all very pleased he did. I'm sure we can all recognise that this was a terrible and quite shameful policy for us to have had at all. It was the Whitlam government that established a policy of multiculturalism and we are all, in communities across Australia, grateful recipients of the legacy of this policy. I know my electorate is richer for the contributions of migrant communities and it is part of what makes our area such a wonderful place to live. It is impossible to celebrate the achievements of the Whitlam government in a short speech but, suffice to say, the Australia we know was shaped by Whitlam. Our national anthem and our sense of pride in a nation that can stand on its own were fostered by Gough Whitlam and his government. It was the Whitlam government that changed our anthem to Advance Australia Fair and launched construction of the National Gallery of Australia. We became a modern, proud nation that celebrated our diversity and extended opportunity, a fair go, to all under Prime Minister Whitlam.

We all benefit from the legacies of the Whitlam government, and I'm proud to be part of another Labor government. I hope in 50 years, after a long time in government, we can look back and know that Australia was made better, fairer and stronger for the decisions we made. I will try my hardest and I know that my colleagues in the Labor government will too, and for this to be the case every single day.

Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Werriwa for moving this motion. I want to talk about my hero, Gough Whitlam. Today, on the 50th anniversary of the election of the Whitlam government, I want to honour the enduring legacy of Gough Whitlam on Australian politics and Australian society. Gough Whitlam's three-year term is known as one of Australia's most reformative and progressive governments. Many of the institutions that our nation is known for, institutions that have become enshrined as rights for Australians, are thanks to Gough. Gough was daring, he dreamt big, he looked over the horizon and he pushed for what was right, not what was easy. He achieved so much in his three-year term. Gough was a person who showed that there can and should be decency, integrity and heart in politics. I can see in our leader Prime Minister Anthony Albanese parallels with Gough Whitlam—hard work, advocating for others, fighting for a fairer Australia. He has achieved a great deal on a short amount of time.

If it had not been Gough Whitlam, I may not be standing before you today. That is because in 1973 Gough Whitlam abolished the white Australia policy. In this place the Gough Whitlam Labor government created and supported the policy of multiculturalism. Because of this, Australia is now home to people from nearly 200 different countries. My electorate of Tangney is home to over 160 nationalities. This diversity reaches our electorates. I consider it a blessing to connect with people from so many different places. My community and my life are richer and more vibrant for it.

I want to recognise the Whitlam Labor government's reform in health care. This is a matter close to my heart because, had it not been for Gough Whitlam, my daughter may not be here today. In 2006 my eldest daughter, Ying, was diagnosed with cancer. It was a long, hard road for her and our family but she won her battle with cancer. I credit this to our amazing healthcare system, the foundation which is Medicare. My family was under so much stress during that time, I cannot imagine the added financial stress if Medicare wasn't available to us. I recognise Gough Whitlam as the champion for Medibank, which evolved into the system we know as Medicare today. Gough saw that, in a country as wealthy as Australia, no-one should go without access to basic health care. Medicare is upheld as a right for Australian people and is considered a building block for one of the best healthcare systems in the world.

I also want to acknowledge the Whitlam Labor government's contribution to education. To me, education is everything. Like any parent, I want my children to have the best possible opportunity they can in their lives. This was the reason why my wife and I decided to emigrate to Australia in 2002—to give our children the best education. In the words of Gough himself, education is the key to equality of opportunity. These words resonate deeply with me. I grew up poor in rural Malaysia. My family didn't have electricity or running water but I'm very grateful to have had access to a quality education. Equal access to opportunities is so important. I know that, without access to education, equality is impossible. After the 1972 election, the Whitlam Labor government made education free. Participation in higher education rose by 25 per cent under Whitlam. I have spoken with many people who say that they owe their university degree to Gough. They say that free tertiary education had a direct impact on their opportunities in life and the path their life has taken. It impacted the way they saw themselves and their capability. Gratitude for Gough and his legacy persists within me and the Australian public. He has left a lasting mark on Australians. Thank you, Gough, we will not forget you.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Gough Whitlam was a formidable, charismatic man with a large presence and a vision for Australia that remains with us today. I thank the member for Werriwa for bringing this motion forward. The Whitlam government policy redefined our nation and changed the lives of a generation of Australians, as we've heard from earlier speakers. Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said, 'Labor governments build things while conservatives tear things down.' It's a simple but clear description of the two sides of politics. Paul Keating said, 'When you change the government, you change the country.'

The Whitlam government did both and had a lasting impact on many Australians' lives. That government's policies transformed individual lives and transformed our nation for the better. Matt Foley, a constituent of mine from Fairfield, who also happens to have been the Attorney-General and Minister for the Arts in the Goss government, was in the United Kingdom when Whitlam was elected. Matt says: 'The world was changing. Women wanted equal rights. There was a war in Vietnam that was deadly and bloody and nobody sensible wanted it. The Whitlam government was a breath of fresh air after 23 years of conservative rule.'

Matt Foley came back to Australia in January the following year to complete his studies in social work. He said it was a stirring time for people working in social work. The Whitlam government set up legal aid centres and had a profound vision for making justice accessible. While working for the Aboriginal legal services, Matt recalls the honest approach Whitlam had to Aboriginal land rights. At the launch of his 1972 election campaign, Gough Whitlam said:

We will legislate to give Aboriginal land rights—because all of us as Australians are diminished while the Aborigines are denied their rightful place in this nation.

And the image of Whitlam handing over title deeds at Daguragu to Vincent Lingiari of the Gurindji people is now iconic. It was the first time the Commonwealth government had returned land to its original custodians. The government set up a royal commission to investigate suitable ways to recognise Aboriginal land rights in the Northern Territory. However, while the Whitlam government drafted the first Commonwealth legislation to grant land rights to Aboriginal peoples, it was dismissed before the legislation could pass the Senate.

John Lincoln, another constituent, turned 30 back in 1972. He was married, a Mormon, and had always voted conservative. He accompanied a friend to the Moorooka Bowls Club because his friend's number was up for the lottery for selective conscription to Vietnam. Thankfully, his friend's number did not come up that day and his friend collapsed on the floor in relief. Like many young men, John Lincoln had no desire to fight against a country Australia had no quarrel with. The next day John heard Gough Whitlam announce that, if elected, he would bring the troops home from Vietnam, so on 5 December 1972, John voted Labor for the first time, and the Whitlam government filled John's life with many opportunities. Whitlam freed all imprisoned draft resisters and brought the Australian troops home from Vietnam. John Lincoln had missed out on higher education but then obtained a teaching degree for free. When his marriage broke down he was able to divorce, sensibly, thanks to Whitlam's reforms under the Family Law Act.

Ken and Robin Boyne, from Yeronga, are retired teachers and constituents of mine. In the 1970s, they were in their mid-20s and wanted to become primary school teachers. They studied teacher training for three years and then commenced work in the Queensland state education system—a decision made possible by the Whitlam government when it expanded access to tertiary education. Without this access, Ken and Robin, who were then supporting a young son, would not have been able to study full time and maintain a household. Having access to publicly funded universal health care, via the Whitlam era Medibank, was also a great boon to Ken and Robin as they set out to establish a family home while being full-time students. Ken and Robin have never forgotten the support they received under the Whitlam initiatives and continue to make their contributions to the broader community.

My first political memory is from when I was nine years old. On 11 November 1975, Sister Mary came rushing into our classroom that afternoon and told Mrs Picking, our teacher, to listen to the radio as something awful was happening. Indeed, something awful was happening: the dismissal of the Whitlam government, in a coup and in an affront to constitutional democracy. I would hate for people to be supporting such a thing. Governments are elected to do good things for the country. Gough Whitlam had a vision for Australia. It was a vision that lifted a generation of people out of poverty and transformed this nation. I'm a beneficiary of the Whitlam government, raised by a single mother in regional Queensland. In 1983 my mother could not have afforded to give me a tertiary education but for the Whitlam government's abolition of university fees and providing income support for poorer people. Thank you, Gough Whitlam and your government, for the changes you made to this nation.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make some comments on the 50th anniversary of the election of the Whitlam government. Indeed, that was more than 10 years before I was born, but there's no doubt that Gough Whitlam leaves an enormous legacy of good achievements and wary lessons for modern governments—particularly this Labor government—to take heed of.

Firstly, I acknowledge also that it's the 50th anniversary of my predecessor Ian Wilson winning the seat of Sturt back for the Liberal Party. I think it was the only seat the Liberals won at the 1972 election and, to be fair—nothing against Ian—that was on the back of a significant redistribution of the seat. However, it was recorrecting it back to the seat that he'd represented earlier before losing to a nice chap called Norm Foster. Norm Foster was the Labor member for Sturt for three years and then became a South Australian legislative councillor for the Labor Party. He resigned from the party to cross the floor and support the establishment of the Olympic Dam mine, which provides such an enormous economic bounty for my state of South Australia. The Labor Party bitterly opposed its development, but Norm Foster was prepared to leave the Labor Party over that because he understood the significant opportunity that Olympic Dam would provide, and has provided, to South Australia for the decades in between.

The Whitlam government did good things, but, of course, it was a short-term government. After being out of power for 23 years, the Labor Party came back for three short years. Bob Hawke was the one who said in interviews he's given that, in hindsight, whilst the Whitlam government did excellent things in social reform and in the wide variety of things they were focused on, credible, stable, strong economic management was not one of them. That was certainly what brought that government undone. In some ways, it was beyond just poor economic management. There was the spectre of ministers operating outside of the authority of the parliament, in seeking to raise, and commit the Commonwealth to, loans without the authority of the legislature. That authority is absolutely fundamental to our Constitution and the supremacy of the parliament and ensures that no-one can act in the name of the Commonwealth of Australia, particularly on financial matters, without the approval of the parliament.

Ministers in the Whitlam government, as we know—Rex Connor and Jim Cairns—sought to do exactly that. They sought to go out and raise billions of dollars of loans—that's billions of dollars in the seventies, I might add, so it was what, in the modern era, would be hundreds of billions of dollars—without the approval of the parliament and without, sometimes, the then Secretary to the Treasury, Sir Frederick Wheeler, even knowing about it. It was a very reckless time. My grandparents went into retirement; my grandfather retired in 1975. Unfortunately, the legacy of that Whitlam government, particularly on inflation—and there are some interesting parallels here—was a massive destructive force on the savings of Australians. The impact of inflation through the seventies, because of the recklessness of those economic decisions, was seriously brutal on retirees in this country.

It's an important watchword for today. With inflation tipped to hit eight per cent in the government's budget, this is really going to impact, as it did in the Whitlam era, the savings and the economic security of Australians—particularly Australians on fixed incomes who think that they have provisioned for their future. That will be pulled out from under them if inflation is let loose in our economy. That happened at the tail end of the Whitlam era.

It was three tumultuous years, with a lot of reform which I absolutely acknowledge has been excellent for the nation, including things that are enduring to this day, particularly in health and education. But I just hope the Labor government of today, in recalling and remembering the Whitlam government of 50 years ago, think about what they would do differently if they were a part of the Whitlam government and apply some of those principles to the government that they are a part of right now, because there are significant challenges and forces—economically, in particular—that are coming down the railway line to us in this country. We wish any government well in meeting those challenges. The Whitlam approach would not be the one I'd recommend. In fact, thinking very seriously about Bob Hawke's critique of the Whitlam government is what we'd love to see this government do to take on the challenges that this government faces, which are very similar to those the Whitlam government faced.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.