Speeches given at his memorial service in Sydney’s Town Hall tell the story of the man, his ideals, his passion and commitment. Senator John Faulkner said of Gough: “The policies he advocated and later enacted looked outward to the world and forward to an Australia where all citizens had the opportunity to realise their ambitions and make good on their potential; an Australia where the government accepted responsibility for the commonwealth and the commonweal of our citizens.”
In an outstanding oration Noel Pearson summed up the qualities of our nation's 21st Prime Minister by reflecting: “I don’t know why someone with this old man’s upper-middle class background could carry such a burning conviction that the barriers of class and race of the Australia of his upbringing and maturation should be torn down and replaced with the unapologetic principle of equality”.
In less than three years the Whitlam Government transformed Australia forever. Under his leadership they harnessed the growing social movements demanding change and delivered a program of reform unequaled before or since.
Whitlam sought to build an Australia of opportunity and equality providing free tertiary education and an accessible assistance scheme allowed a generation of young Australian men and women a university education, most the first in their families to be awarded degrees. I am one of that generation.
The achievements of Gough’s government were extraordinary, beginning a true liberation of women, introducing universal health care, legal aid, the Trade Union Training Authority, an end to the conscription and the White Australia policy, embraced multiculturalism and as Noel Pearson commented: “Without this old man the land and human rights of our people would never have seen the light of day”.
It was of course his government that introduced state aid to non-government schools. He confronted head-on his opponents within and outside his party to this and other policy issues with the sentiments that would become the key to the 1972 ALP election manifesto: “to promote equality, to involve the people of Australia in the decision-making processes of our land, and to liberate the talents and uplift the horizons of the Australian people”.
Edward Gough Whitlam leaves a great legacy.
John Quessy
IEU General Secretary