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Posts published in “Whitlam Government”

Gough Whitlam’s Eulogy For Lance Barnard: “My Oldest And Best Mate”

August 15, 1997

Lance Barnard died on August 6, 1997, at the age of 78.

Barnard, the member for the Tasmanian seat of Bass (1954-75), was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence during the first term of the Whitlam government. Barnard also served in the two-man ministry, with Whitlam between December 3-19, 1972. He held 14 portfolios in the interim administration, one more than Whitlam.

Barnard had been deputy to Whitlam since their election on February 8, 1967. Following the 1974 election, Barnard was replaced as deputy by Dr. Jim Cairns. Shortly afterwards, Whitlam appointed Barnard as Ambassador to Sweden, Norway and Finland.

In the ensuing by-election in Bass, there was a 14.3% swing against the ALP and the seat was won by the Liberal Party’s Kevin Newman. The by-election signalled the unpopularity of the Whitlam government and probably emboldened the Coalition to block Supply a few months later.

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Whitlam’s Address At The Opening Of The Trade Union Education Foundation

February 9, 1997

This is the text of Gough Whitlam’s speech at the opening of the Trade Union Education Foundation.

Whitlam canvassed a range of issues, including education, electoral reform and indigenous issues in relation to Mabo and Wik.

The speech was delivered at Sydney Town Hall.

Gough Whitlam speech at the opening of the Trade Union Education Foundation.

Men and Women of Australia; is the salutation I reserve for great occasions. It is entirely appropriate that I should use it to greet this assembly today.

I was delighted to accept Bill Kelty’s invitation to give the first lecture in this eponymous series. If this had been a Whitlam Memorial Lecture I could only have been with you in spirit.

I appreciate the honour deeply and congratulate the ACTU warmly on its initiative in establishing the Trade Union Education Foundation.

Through this initiative the ACTU re-affirms one of the Labor Movement’s oldest and best traditions: its educative role within our own ranks and in the wider community.

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Whitlam: The Coup Twenty Years After

November 8, 1995

This is the text of Gough Whitlam’s Address to the National Press Club on the 20th anniversary of The Dismissal.

Mr President, Citizens

It’s always a great pleasure for me to return to the National Press Club, not only because of our long association but because of its importance as a forum. In my time, the party leaders wound up their campaigns here. Now, Labor Prime Ministers use the lunch to launch policies and Liberal leaders to launch themselves.

There must have been a certain inevitability in my being invited back around the time of the 20th anniversary of 11 November 1975. Media interest has been intense and I have had to limit my acceptance of requests for interviews and articles. One of the reasons, frankly, is that I am not preoccupied with the Dismissal. My chief interest in the events of October/November 1975, dramatic as they were, now lies in their relevance to the development of Australia as a Republic. That makes it doubly important that the Australian public should have an accurate understanding of those events and the motives of those who took part in them.

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Margaret Whitlam: The CIA Might Have Been Involved

April 28, 1991

In 1991, a month after Sir John Kerr’s death, Margaret Whitlam said she was “prepared to believe” that the CIA was involved in her husband’s downfall.

Mrs. Whitlam was asked by a reporter whether she thought the US Central Intelligence Agency was involved: “I do. He [Gough] doesn’t. As an old thriller reader I’m prepared to believe it.”

On whether they had broken out the champagne when Kerr died, Mrs. Whitlam said: “No. I didn’t bother. I regretted his descent into his miserable life because I’d known his first wife very well. Peg was the sort of woman who would have been fabulous for anybody. He shouldn’t have taken that job in the first place. He knew she was dying.”

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Future Directions For Reform In Australia

November 15, 1985

This is the text of Gough Whitlam’s John Curtin Memorial Lecture on the 10th anniversary of Whitlam’s dismissal.

It was delivered at the University of Western Australia, in Perth.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR REFORM IN AUSTRALIA

Achieving Government through the House of Representatives Majority

Gough WhitlamThis is the fourth time I have delivered, a Curtin Memorial Lecture and the third time at this University.

Here, in February 1961 I spoke on “Socialism Within the Constitution”; in July 1972, also here, I spoke on “Urbanised Australia”; and in October 1975, at the Australian National University, I spoke at the height of the great crisis which culminated in my Government’s dismissal on 11 November. My topic then was “Government of the people, for the people, by the people’s house”. Now in this, my fourth Curtin Memorial Lecture, delivered in the year which marks the 100th anniversary of John Curtin’s birth, I speak on future directions for reform in Australia.

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The National Remembers The Whitlam Dismissal And Talks To Albert Patrick Field

November 11, 1985

This is a video of The National’s coverage of the tenth anniversary of the Whitlam Dismissal.

In 1985, the ABC had replaced its nightly television news and current affairs half-hour with a bizarre program called The National, which attempted to combine news and analysis in one package. Naturally, it didn’t last.

The National didn’t manage to secure an interview with Gough Whitlam, even though he gave multiple interviews to other networks and programs.

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Whitlam’s 1977 Election Policy Speech

November 17, 1977

Whitlam delivered the ALP policy speech for the 1977 federal election at the Sydney Opera House.

For the first time, Whitlam’s speech was not broadcast in full. The televised address contained contributions from Whitlam’s shadow ministers.

Gough Whitlam’s 1977 election policy speech, delivered at the Sydney Opera House.

A Program for Australia’s Recovery

The task before us is to get Australia back to work, to give our young people, our unemployed, our small business people, our migrants a new hope—hope for decent jobs, hope in their future and the future of their country. The deepening economic crisis, the deliberately created unemployment call for bold, decisive measures. I shall be putting forward proposals to cut through, once and for all, the knot which ties unemployment and inflation.

We reject the defeatism and despair which says to Australia’s young people that their lives must be ruined if inflation is to be beaten.

Our proposals will call for Australia’s resources of co-operation, good faith, maturity and responsibility—co-operation from the States, good faith from business and maturity and foresight on the part of the people of Australia.

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