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
This 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.