Yes, I was probably a bit too unkind to old Gough, but my feelings are very affected by the families of my friends that his administration hurt during the 70s.
One of my closest friends of that time, his family had one of the biggest building companies in Melbourne. Their company went broke twice during labour administrations because of the poor economic performances of these governments. The first was in 74-75, due to Whitlam. The second time was in the late 80s due to Keating's recession we had to have.
Beyond this friend, there were many others whose families were forced into closing their manufacturing facilities during and after the Whitlam era and reverted to merely importing their goods from Asia.
In regards to social reform, this had begun well before the Whitlam era.
The ending of the infamous White Australia Policy was progressively dismantled in 1949, again in 1966, and the last step was in 1973. So, it began well before Whitlam.
The same voting rights were given to Aboriginals as other Australians in 1965. Had nothing to do with the Whitlam era.
The winding down of Australia's participation in Vietnam began in 1970, with nearly all troops withdrawn by 1971. The last Australian troops left in late 1972, just when Whitlam came to power. So, don't let them tell you that Whitlam ended the Vietnam War either.
Censorship reform began in Australia in 1970, under Don Chipp during the Gorton tenure. This was well before the Whitlam government.
Reforms of the health system started in 1970, especially with the Mental Health Act, well before Whitlam came to power.
In the Arts, the Australian council of the Arts, the Australian Film Development Corporation and other great institutions were created prior to the Whitlam tenure.
People need to remember that the Whitlam governments ran from Dec 1972 to Nov 1975, that just short of 3 years.
It takes far longer than 2 years and 11 months for genuine reforms to occur, and most of the reforms attributed to Gough Whitlam were in fact begun well before Whitlam came to power.
In many many ways, the Whitlam government was very lucky that it succeeded the already reforming Gorton government of 1968 to 1971.
Many of those then Liberal parliamentarians continued to vote for reforms that they had begun. That's why, in many cases, the Whitlam government was able to continue that golden era of reform that sprung from the 1960s.
I'll concede that Medicare was a great reform enacted by the Whitlam government.
And the Law Reform Commission was set up by the Whitlam government.
And, I did get my first degree for free, care of the Whitlam government.
Personally, I believe that the role played by the earlier Gorton government has been underrated terribly.
Further, by way of the manner of its dismissal, Gough has been overly enlarged into a Robin Hood-like character.
In any event, the one that I will look forward to the most will be the passing of Kerr's Cur, the worthless dog John Malcolm Fraser. He'll go straight to Hell.
Before Whitlam came to office, Fraser had taken key roles in the destabilising of both the Gorton and McMahon governments, and only worked to serve his sole objective of his own Prime Ministership.
Furthermore, Australia desperately needed a government that could retake control after the mess left by the Whitlan government.
The Whitlam government ran just short of 3 years.
The Fraser government ran for about 7 and a half years. For 7 and a half years, the Fraser government sat on its hands and did nothing.
Not only did Fraser do nothing for Australia, but he also messed up the reforming of Rhodesia into Zimbabwe in 1980, handing the whole country over to the dictator Mugabe.
And I heard Fraser on the radio today trying to re-write his history.
Both Fraser and his more than useless Treasurer John Howard should be damned.
When Fraser goes, it will be a double good riddance!
