Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak on this condolence motion and pay tribute to Edward Gough Whitlam. I do so with a sense of sadness yet gladness that this great man, this Labor hero, who has now passed, leaves such an indelible memory in our hearts and minds. In doing so, I acknowledge his family, Catherine, Nicholas, Tony, Stephen and their partners and families and give my sympathies to them.

The year 1972 has always had a significant double meaning in my life. Mere coincidence though it is, I was born the same year that Gough Whitlam became Prime Minister of the first federal Labor government for 23 years. Since 1972, Australia has never been the same. Because of Gough Whitlam, we never can be. The significant, progressive policies implemented by his Labor government in such a short timespan have been absolutely life changing. The opportunities that have been offered to me throughout my life are the fortuitous products of Gough Whitlam's courageous and ongoing reforms to Australian society. He makes me proud to be a member of the Australian Labor Party and he makes me proud to be an Australian.

Gough's impact on my life and many of my generation—and of my parents' generation—has been profound, but his impact on Australian society has been transformational. In the sad days since his death, I have been reflecting on the enormous influence he has had on Australia and the Australian Labor Party and the inspiration he has given to so many Australian Labor Party members.

His impact was as unique as it was comprehensive, as substantive as it was stimulating. When the pages of Australian history are turned in decades and centuries to come, Australia's 20th century will be identified, in part, as Whitlam's century. We are so fortunate for his life and his enormous contribution to Australian politics. Many members of parliament and senators have remarked on that, including a very heart-felt contribution by his dear friend Senator John Faulkner. He was a man of substance and a leader with the intelligence, courage, wit, charisma, vision, ambition, social conscience and power of oratory to alter the course of our nation's history. This was Gough Whitlam and we were lucky to have him.

Gough Whitlam believed in our society, institutions and ambitions. Politically and socially, he was the catalyst for a modern, multicultural Australia, proud of its own identity. He lived out his progressive values every day, while he sculpted Australia into a more equitable society. He personified the fundamental values at the heart of the Australian Labor Party's purpose. He wanted people to have the opportunity to reach their full potential, to be happy and to be what they wanted to be and not be held back by the barriers of class, wealth or social    disadvantage.

His uncompromising commitment to equal opportunity, women's empowerment and free education embedded egalitarianism in government policy. In acknowledging and thanking him for his commitment to equality for women, I pay tribute to his beloved wife Margaret, who was such a driving force for equality. They were, indeed, a great partnership, and she was, indeed, an incredible support and companion—a great woman herself.

His achievements made in just three years, continue to shape the lives of Australians. His government introduced universal health care and no-fault divorce. He established legal aid, reduced the voting age from 21 to 18, increased and indexed pensions, abolished the death penalty, abolished the British honours system, and established the Order of Australia.

Mr Whitlam established the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service and initiated federal protection of the Great Barrier Reef. He increased investment in all levels of education and increased investment in the arts. And hasn't Pollock's Blue Poles lasted the test of time? He gave us an Australian national anthem and endorsed the institution of Indigenous land rights. How could we ever forget the image of the pouring of the sand from his hand into the hand of Vincent Lingiari?

As a strong campaigner for a republic, it would be remiss of me not to mention that Gough united with Malcolm Fraser to campaign for a republic and to build our own identity—and to cement Australia's independence in doing so. However, this is something we are yet to achieve.

As has been accurately written elsewhere, Whitlam also committed Australia to the highest standards of international citizenship. Abandoning Australia's fossilised attitudes of colonialism and long-held suspicions of Asia, he opened Australia to the world. And in doing so his government increased foreign aid spending, established diplomatic relations with China, granted independence to Papua New Guinea, withdrew Australia's last troops from Vietnam and ended conscription, introduced the incredibly important policy of multiculturalism, and formally abolished the White Australia policy. He    initiated a partnership with the Association of South-East Asian Nations—ASEAN—and pledged Australian financial assistance to its development program; banned South African apartheid sporting teams from visiting Australia; and signed or ratified numerous United Nations conventions like the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, the Covenant on the Political Rights of Women, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

As Senator Wong said, Gough Whitlam made Australia what it is today. He reminds us that politics is a cause—a noble pursuit—and he inspires us, as Labor politicians, to strive for equality in all that we do. Gough Whitlam introduced Australia to the world, and the world to Australia. In many ways, he introduced Australia to itself. And in many ways he set us free. Thank you, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.