LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Gough Whitlam: Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
built 628 days ago
Only a few months after becoming the first Labor Prime Minister in 23 years, Gough Whitlam was in Victoria lending support to the party’s campaign for the May 1973 state elections. This current affairs ‘special presentation’ by the then
Source:
Gough Whitlam came into office toward the end of 1972. He was the first Labor Prime Minister in 23 years, and he arrived in the position keen to bring about a number of reforms and a new, progressive approach to the Australian national identity. Whitlam had already reformed the Labor Party's policy platform prior to coming to power, and as Prime Minister he established new Commonwealth bodies to deal with Aboriginal and Environmental issues, introduced free university education, and ended conscription. His term in office was cut short in November 1975 when he became the only Prime Minister to be removed from office by the Governor-General.
Source:
Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s first 100 days in office saw more radical changes then would be seen in almost 100 years of previous Governments. The Whitlam government ended conscription and ordered the last Australian troops home from Vietnam. It brought in legislation giving equal pay to women, established a national health service free to all, doubled spending on education and abolished university fees, increased wages, pensions and unemployment benefits, ended censorship, reformed divorce laws and set up the Family Law Courts, funded the arts and film industry, assumed federal government responsibility for Aboriginal affairs (health, education, welfare and land rights), scrapped royal patronage and replaced "God Save the Queen" as the national anthem with "Advance Australia Fair." Although all these advances were good things for Australians, such radical progress was very expensive and troublesome. The Liberal – Country Party saw such brisk advances as ‘waving a magic wand’ over Australian problems and set backs; and was very annoyed that it had worked with Australian approval. Such moves by the Whitlam Government were ... very expensive; in a very short period of time, a great amount of money was dealt to a great many things, hence a slow down in the growth of the economy. The Liberal – Country Coalition took this as a reason to stop supply and was able to do so by having superior numbers in the Senate.
Source:
When the appointed Queen's man, Governor-General Sir John Kerr, sacked the elected government of Gough Whitlam on November 11, 1975, it sent shock waves around the nation. It was the dramatic end to weeks of political crisis, play and counter-play, and brinkmanship between two massive egos … that of Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser and Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. But 30 years later does it still burn brightly in the public's imagination? This week Sunday reveals that it barely registers at all with many voters. Even more surprising, Whitlam's call to "maintain the rage" has grown so faint among many Labor stalwarts that their long-held anger has subsided. These days they even see Malcolm Fraser's role in a rosier light.
Source:
Recognised as a National Living Treasure, Margaret Whitlam achieved public figure status after 1972 as the wife of Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. She was outspoken on many issues affecting women and was appointed to the National Advisory Committee for International Women's Year in 1974.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam