Australian statesman and prime minister (19725), born in Melbourne, Victoria, NE Australia. He studied at Canberra and Sydney universities, and became a lawyer. He was elected a Labor MP in 1952, and became leader of the Australian Labor Party in 1967. The first Labor prime minister in 23 years, he ended conscription, relaxed the policy on non-white immigrants, and increased federal government involvement in welfare, education, and the arts. He was dismissed by the governor-general, Sir John Kerr, after the Opposition blocked his money bills in the upper house of the Senate - the first time the crown had so acted against an elected prime minister. The ALP lost the ensuing election, and he resigned as an MP in 1978 to take up a university appointment at Canberra. A flamboyant, erudite figure who remains controversial, his book The Whitlam Government was published in 1985, and an account of his activities since leaving politics, Abiding Interests, in 1997.
Hon Gough Whitlam|
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| 21st Prime Minister of Australia | |
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In office 2 December 1972 – 11 November 1975 |
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| Preceded by | William McMahon |
| Succeeded by | Malcolm Fraser |
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11 July 1916 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Political party | Labor |
Edward Gough Whitlam AC QC (born 11 July 1916), known as Gough Whitlam (/gɔf/, pronounced "Goff"), Australian politician and 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Although he spent a relatively short time in office, many of the policies and institutions set up under the Whitlam Government are still evident today, such as Medicare.
Early life
Gough Whitlam was born in Kew, a Melbourne suburb. His father, Fred Whitlam, was a federal public servant who served as Solicitor-General. Whitlam senior's involvement in human rights issues was a powerful influence on his son. Whitlam was educated at Sydney's Knox Grammar School and at Canberra Grammar School, where he became friends with Francis James, later a prominent journalist. Whitlam then studied law at the University of Sydney.
In 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. 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 Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. A third son, Stephen Whitlam (b.
Early political career
Whitlam's impetus to become involved in politics was the Chifley government's post-war referendum to gain increased powers for the federal government. 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 schooldays for his erudition, eloquence and incisive wit, Whitlam soon became one of the ALP's star performers.
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.
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.
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, Whitlam's 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 Calwell's continued support for the White Australia Policy. Gough Whitlam then became Leader of the Opposition, narrowly defeating his rival, Jim Cairns.
Opposition leader
Whitlam swiftly made his mark on the ALP, bringing his campaign for internal reform to fruition, and overhauling or discarding a series of Labor policies that had been enshrined for decades.
One of the first Australian politicans to realise and fully exploit the power of television as a political tool, Whitlam proved himself a formidable campaigner, winning two by-elections and then a 17-seat swing in the 1969 election, falling only four seats short of a majority. Whitlam quickly established an ascendancy, particularly over McMahon, who was well past his political prime and lacked the on-screen charisma that Whitlam so obviously possessed.
Outside parliament, Whitlam concentrated on party reform and on developing new policies. He advocated the abolition of conscription and Australian withdrawal from the Vietnam War, and in 1971 visited the People's Republic of China (PRC), promising to establish diplomatic relations—much to the chagrin of McMahon, who attacked Whitlam for this policy, only to discover that President Richard Nixon was himself working toward recognising the PRC. On 2 December 1972, Whitlam led the ALP to its first electoral victory since 1946.
Prime Minister
Custom dictated that Whitlam should have waited until the process of vote counting was complete, and then called a Caucus meeting to elect his Ministers ready to be sworn in by the Governor-General. Liberal Prime Ministers, in contrast, have traditionally had the power to nominate their own Ministry.)
Unwilling to wait, Whitlam, as soon as the overall result was beyond doubt, had himself and Deputy Leader Lance Barnard sworn in as a two-man government, holding all the portfolios between them (see First Whitlam Ministry). Whitlam later said: "The Caucus I joined in 1952 had as many Boer War veterans as men who had seen active service in World War II, three from each.
Although Labor had a comfortable working majority in the House, Whitlam faced a hostile Senate, making it impossible for him to pass legislation without the support of at least one of the other parties—Liberal, Country, or DLP. (Senate elections at that time were not synchronised with House of Representatives elections: at the time Whitlam took office, half the Senate had been elected two years previously, the other half five years earlier.)
After 23 years of continuous conservative rule, the bureaucracy was unhelpful, and the conservative state governments were implacably opposed to reform. Nevertheless, Whitlam embarked on a massive legislative reform program. In the space of a little less than three years, the Whitlam Government:
established formal diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China;
The repeated rejection of these bills provided a constitutional trigger for a double dissolution (a simultaneous election for all members in both houses), but Whitlam did not decide to call such an election until May 1974. To improve his chances of winning control of the Senate, Whitlam offered the former DLP Leader, Senator Vince Gair, the post of Ambassador to Ireland, thus creating an extra Senate vacancy in Queensland which Whitlam hoped Labor could win.
This "Gair affair" so outraged opponents of the Whitlam government that the Opposition Leader Billy Snedden threatened to block supply in the Senate, although he took no actual steps to do so. Whitlam, however, believing Snedden was unpopular with the electorate, immediately went to the Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck, and obtained a double dissolution of both Houses for 18 May. Whitlam went to the polls asking for a mandate to "finish the job", and the ALP campaigned on the slogan "Give Gough a Go". At the election the Whitlam government was re-elected, though with a reduced majority. In the longer term, it contained the seeds of Whitlam's downfall.
In its second term, the Whitlam Government continued with its legislative reform program, but became embroiled in a series of controversies and scandals, including secret attempts to borrow large amounts of money from Middle Eastern governments, by-passing the Treasury and correct constitutional procedures (the "Loans Affair"). Whitlam was forced to dismiss Treasurer Jim Cairns and another senior minister, Rex Connor, for misleading Parliament.
Emboldened by these scandals, a weak economy, and a massive swing to them in a mid-1975 by-election for the Tasmanian seat of Bass, the Liberal-Country Opposition, led by Malcolm Fraser, argued that the Government's behaviour in breaching constitutional conventions required that it in turn attempt to breach one of the most fundamental, that the Senate would block Supply (that is, cut off supply of Treasury funds). Bjelke-Petersen said he had concerns over Colston's integrity, but Labor maintained that his real intention was to appoint a Senator who would support the blocking of supply and thus help bring down the Whitlam government. Field said that he was opposed to Whitlam's behaviour in office and that he had approached Bjelke-Petersen asking to be nominated to the vacancy. 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. Kerr had been a Whitlam appointment, but he had developed a grudge against the Prime Minister, who he felt had ignored him and snubbed his wife. Kerr was also concerned about the legality of Whitlam's proposals for borrowing money, as were the banks. Kerr contacted the Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, the former Liberal Attorney-General Sir Garfield Barwick, who gave Kerr private advice that it was his duty to dismiss Whitlam. Kerr was also advised, by New South Wales Governor Sir Roden Cutler that he must warn Whitlam of the possibility of his dismissal.
So on 11 November 1975, without giving Whitlam more than a moment's warning, Kerr revoked Whitlam's commission and installed Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister until a federal election could be held.
On hearing the proclamation dissolving Parliament, which ended with the traditional 'God Save the Queen', Whitlam delivered his famous impromptu address to the crowd that had gathered in front of the steps of Parliament House.
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, who had won two elections in five years, was approved by an overwhelming majority of the House. This vote of confidence in Whitlam was delivered personally to Kerr by the Speaker of the House, but Kerr refused to accept it.
The day of the dismissal Whitlam expected to bring into debate the role of Joint US-Australian bases in Australia, namely at Pine Gap and North West Cape. In the months leading up to this an aggressive stance against the Whitlam government was assumed by the US government and its Intelligence agencies. Although there were a number of public protests against Fraser during the campaign, the media (especially the Murdoch press, which had supported the ALP in 1972) had long since lost confidence in Whitlam, reporting a string of ministerial failures.
The Whitlam government assessed
During its three years in power, the Whitlam government was responsible for a long list of legislative reforms, most of which still stand today.
Despite its many concrete achievements, Whitlam's critics point to substantial failings in his administration. But the Whitlam government's own economic policies—such as its controversial 1973 decision to reduce tariffs across the board by 25%—were also held partly responsible. Whitlam also refused to allow South Vietnamese refugees into the country following the fall of Saigon, concerned that these "yellow balts" would have anti-communist sympathies hostile to the Australian Labor Party.
The autocratic Whitlam's "crash through or crash" style made many political enemies, and the various scandals afflicting the government cost it valuable time and momentum, and heavily damaged its credibility with the electorate. Many Australians regarded his dismissal by the unelected Governor-General as an outrage, but most Australians voted to replace the Whitlam government even so, and the Labor Party would not be a serious candidate for government again until Whitlam had been replaced as leader.
Whitlam's style as leader was as much admired as it was reviled, and he could be arrogant, autocratic and elitist, but even his opponents acknowledged that he had few equals as a parliamentary performer, public speaker and debater, and he was renowned for his erudition and rapier wit, which he used to great effect against his opponents.
The Whitlam Government was also greatly damaged by several highly-publicised scandals, most notably the disastrous "Iraqi Loans Affair" masterminded by Rex Connor, the series of controversies over the questionable conduct of Treasurer and deputy party leader Dr Jim Cairns, and the previously mentioned Indonesian invasion of East Timor. The dismissal by Kerr was regarded by many ALP supporters was one of only illegal things to happen while Whitlam was in office.
Out of office
Whitlam stayed on to fight the 1977 election. Labor was defeated nearly as heavily as it had been in 1975, and Whitlam resigned from Parliament in 1978. Although Whitlam knew this was partly a ploy by Hawke to get him out of the country, he hugely enjoyed the Paris posting and made a great impression on other UNESCO delegates.
The Labor historian Bob Ellis has described him as "the self-appointed deity of the Labor Party".
Whitlam turned 80 in 1996, but still made regular public appearances and continued to comment on some issues, notably republicanism: in the 1999 referendum, he campaigned together on this issue with his old enemy Fraser. He felt the Hawke government had wasted its opportunities to continue the great Whitlam reform programme, but was more enthusiastic about Paul Keating's government. After 1996 he was scathingly critical of John Howard, but also of Kim Beazley, who was Labor leader from 1996 to 2001 – this feud apparently went back to Whitlam's dislike of Beazley's father (Kim Beazley, senior), who had been a minister in Whitlam's government.
Whitlam was delighted when his former research assistant and then MP representing his old seat of Werriwa, Mark Latham, was elected Labor leader on 2 December 2003, exactly 31 years after Whitlam's own election as Prime Minister. By that time Whitlam, 87, was increasingly frail and usually appeared in public with a walking stick, but his ability and willingness to make outspoken comments had not diminished, and he spoke frequently in praise of Latham.
Latham's diaries, however, were published in September 2005, and included a claim that Whitlam had dismissively remarked to Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon that he thought Latham—who had by then resigned as leader—should quit politics altogether. When Latham learned of the remark, he cut off all contact with his former mentor and described Whitlam's comment as "the cruellest cut of all". Whitlam subsequently claimed that he simply told Fitzgibbon he thought it was "unsustainable" for Latham to stay on as an MP because of his ill-health.
In April 2004 Whitlam spoke at a function marking the centenary of the Watson Labor government. A member of the Australian Fabian Society, Whitlam was its President in 2002.
Whitlam has been a supporter of fixed parliamentary terms since his membership of a constitutional review committee in the 1950s.
Honours
Whitlam was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1962 and a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1978.
Whitlam is an honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities.
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