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Posts published in “Whitlam Speeches”

Joint Sitting Of Parliament: Whitlam’s Opening Speech

August 6, 1974

Following the May 1974 double dissolution election, the Senate continued to reject six pieces of legislation. Under Section 57 of the Constitution, a joint sitting was held to resolve the deadlock.

The legislation sought to establish the Medibank universal health insurance scheme which is now known as Medicare. Another bill aimed to establish one-vote-one-value in electoral distributions. Another provided for Senate representation for the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, whilst the final bill established the Petroleum and Minerals Authority.

This is Whitlam’s opening speech to the Joint Sitting. He specifically deals with the introduction of one-vote-one-value in electoral distributions through establishing a maximum 10% variation in voter numbers in House of Representatives seats.

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Whitlam’s 1974 Election Policy Speech

April 29, 1974

The Whitlam Labor Government faced the electorate on May 18, 1974, just 18 months after taking office, in a double dissolution election.

Whitlam delivered his policy speech at the Blacktown Civic Centre, calling for a “fair go” for his government and a chance to carry out “the program”.

SMH

  • Listen to Whitlam’s Policy Speech – 8.30pm April 29, 1974 (30m)
  • Listen to ABC Radio news, reporting the speech – 10pm, April 29, 1974 (4m)
  • Listen to ABC Radio’s AM report on the policy speech – 8am, April 30, 1974 (7m)

Transcript of the Policy Speech delivered by the Prime Minister of Australia, Gough Whitlam, at the Blacktown Civic Centre, NSW, on April 29, 1974.

Men and Women of Australia,

Just 17 months ago, I stood here, and from this place and from this city I asked you to choose for Australia a new team, a new program, a new drive for equality of opportunities. You gave us a clear mandate to go ahead with our program for the next 3 years. For 17 months we have driven ourselves to carry out your mandate, to carry out the program I placed before you. Now the government you elected for 3 years has been interrupted in mid-career. Our program has been brought to a halt in mid-stream.

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Address To The Nation: Gough Whitlam On Why The 1974 Election Was Called

April 16, 1974

Following the Gair Affair and the Opposition’s decision to block Supply, Whitlam called a double dissolution election for May 18, 1974. He had been in office for 17 months.

On Tuesday April 16, at 7.30pm, pre-empting the ABC’s nightly current affairs show, This Day Tonight (TDT), Whitlam made an Address to the Nation.

In it, he put the argument that his government was being frustrated by a Senate that was elected 3 and 6 years earlier. He quoted his Liberal predecessor, Sir Robert Menzies, and described this as “a falsification of democracy”.

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Foreign Policy: Whitlam’s Washington Address

July 30, 1973

During the first year of his government, Whitlam was not only Prime Minister but also Minister for Foreign Affairs.

This speech, an address to the National Press Club, in Washington, provides an overview of Whitlam’s foreign policy principles, as well as his view of Australia’s position within the ANZUS alliance.

Text of an address by the Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Gough Whitlam, to the National Press Club, Washington.

It is an honour for me to be asked to address representatives of the world’s greatest and most free press in the capital of the world’s greatest and most free democracy.

The strength of each is the strength of both.

In accepting your invitation I pay tribute to the manifest and enduring strength of both.

It’s been suggested that your chief interest today is to hear something about the changes in Australia’s policies as a result of the change in the Australian Government, changes affecting our international relations and particularly the relations between Australia and the United States.

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Whitlam’s Address To The ALP National Conference

July 10, 1973

In July 1973, Whitlam’s Labor government had been in office for seven months.

Whitlam’s Address to the ALP National Conference provides an insight into his thinking, particularly his belief that the government had been elected with a clear mandate to implement the policies developed in Opposition at the three previous party conferences in 1967, 1969 and 1971.

Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s Address to the ALP National Conference.

We would have less than ordinary human failings if on this occasion we were not tempted to indulge in all the emotions from nostalgia to euphoria. And our best friends have never suggested that the Australian Labor Party was short on ordinary human failings. There is, nonetheless, a sort of symmetry which would move anybody with a sense of our Party’s history in the fact that we came back to Surfers Paradise for this first National Conference with our first National Government for nearly a quarter of a century. We met here seven years ago for the Special Conference of 1966 – that annus horribilis in the history of Australia and of the Australian Labor Party. We were at the nadir of our fortunes. Yet that Special Conference, held at a time when we were well on our way to the greatest debacle in our Party’s history, strangely enough contained the seeds of our resurgence and ultimate triumph in a way that none of us could have then discerned. We started on the road back then and here.

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Australia Day 1973: Whitlam Announces Search For New Anthem

January 26, 1973

Australia Day 1973 passed almost unnoticed, according to one radio news report, but Whitlam used his 53rd day as prime minister to announce a search for a new national anthem.

Whitlam’s announcement of a replacement for God Save the Queen came in his Australia Day address. He said: “We feel it is essential that Australians have an Anthem that fittingly embodies our national aspirations and reflects our status as an independent nation. We need an Anthem that uniquely identifies our country abroad, and recalls vividly to ourselves the distinctive qualities of Australian life and the character and traditions of our nation. These aims are particularly important to the Labor Government which I lead. It has been one of tile central ambitions of my administration to foster a fresh and distinctive reputation for Australia overseas, and to encourage in our domestic affairs a greater spirit of shared purpose and national unity. My Government does not believe that our present National Anthem is adequate for these purposes.”

Whitlam announced a competition for the new anthem, culminating in a public vote and a prize of $5000.00 to the winner.

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It’s Time: Whitlam’s 1972 Election Policy Speech

November 13, 1972

The policy speech delivered by Gough Whitlam for the 1972 Federal elections is one of the few such speeches that are remembered decades on. In it, Whitlam set out the “program” he intended to implement in government.

The speech began a tradition of Whitlam commencing with the words first used by Prime Minister John Curtin (1941-45): “Men and women of Australia!”

  • Listen to the opening words of Whitlam’s 1972 Policy Speech
  • Listen to highlights of the speech (10m)
  • Listen to the speech in full as broadcast (30m)
  • Watch the complete speech (30m)

    • This is the Policy Speech for the Australian Labor Party, delivered by Gough Whitlam, at the Blacktown Civic Centre, in Sydney, on November 13, 1972.

    Gough Whitlam

    Podium Version

    This is the speech Whitlam delivered during the 30-minute live telecast of the policy speech on November 13, 1972.

    72-11-13_whitlam-policy-speech_podium-version

    Full Policy Statement

    This is the full policy statement issued by the Australian Labor Party for the 1972 federal elections.

    72-11-13_whitlam-policy-speech_moad

    Men and Women of Australia!

    The decision we will make for our country on 2 December is a choice between the past and the future, between the habits and fears of the past, and the demands and opportunities of the future. There are moments in history when the whole fate and future of nations can be decided by a single decision. For Australia, this is such a time. It’s time for a new team, a new program, a new drive for equality of opportunities: it’s time to create new opportunities for Australians, time for a new vision of what we can achieve in this generation for our nation and the region in which we live. It’s time for a new government – a Labor Government.

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    Whitlam’s 1969 Election Policy Speech

    October 1, 1969

    This is the text of Gough Whitlam’s 1969 Election Policy Speech.

    It was delivered at the Sydney Town Hall.

    Into the Seventies with Labor

    On 25 October Australians will elect a national government to take Australia into the 1970s. The campaign of the Australian Labor Party will have one dominant theme – the theme of opportunities, the taking of opportunities, the making of opportunities for Australia and for all Australians. We wish to renovate, rejuvenate, reinvigorate and liberate. It is not only time, more than time, for a change; it is time to refresh, remould and renew the whole framework of finances and functions and to end the 20 year story of opportunities needlessly deferred, delayed and denied by the Liberals.

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