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. [Read more…]