My Early Life I was born in Kew, a Melbourne suburb. My father, Fred Whitlam, was a federal public servant who served as Solicitor-General. His senior's involvement in human rights issues was a powerful influence on his son. I was educated at Sydney's Knox Grammar School and at Canberra Grammar School, where I became aquainted with Francis James, later a prominent journalist. Then studied law at the University of Sydney. During the Second World War I served as a navigator in the Royal Australian Air Force's No. 13 Squadron, reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant. I completed my studies after the war and was admitted to the New South Wales bar in 1947... width="425" height="350" ..In 1942 I married Margaret Dovey, daughter of Judge Bill Dovey, and had three sons and a daughter. Margaret Whitlam is known for having a sardonic wit equal to that of her husband, ME!, and is a published author as well as a former champion swimmer. One of our sons, Nicholas Whitlam, became a prominent banker and a controversial figure in his own right. Another, Tony Whitlam, was briefly a federal MP and is now a judge. Our third son, Stephen Whitlam, is a former diplomat.My Early Political Career My impetus to become involved in politics was the Chifley government's post-war referendum to gain increased powers for the federal government. I joined the Australian Labor Party in 1945 and in 1950 was a Labor candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly: a contest I was later grateful I didn't win. When Hubert Lazzarini, the sitting member for the safe Federal electorate of Werriwa, died in 1952, I was elected to the House of Representatives at the by-election on 29 November 1952 [2] .Noted since my schooldays for my erudition, eloquence and incisive wit, I soon became one of the ALP's star performers. Widely acknowledged as one of the best political speakers and parliamentary debaters of my time, I was also one of the few in the ALP who could hold my own against Robert Menzies on the floor of the House.After the electoral success of the Curtin and Chifley years, the 1950s were a grim and divisive time for Labor. The Liberal-Country Party coalition government of Robert Menzies gained power in the election of 1949 and ruled for a record 23 years. Chifley died in June 1951. His replacement, Dr H.V. Evatt, lacked Chifley's conciliatory skills.I admired Evatt greatly, and was a loyal supporter of his leadership, through a period dominated by the Labor split of 1955, which resulted in the Catholic right wing of the party breaking off to form the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). In 1960, having lost three elections, Evatt resigned, to be replaced by Arthur Calwell, with me winning the election for deputy over veteran Labor MP Eddie Ward. Calwell came within a handful of votes of winning the 1961 election, but progressively lost ground from that time on.The ALP, having been founded as a party to represent the working classes, still regarded its parliamentary representatives as servants of the party as a whole, and required them to comply with official party policy. This led to the celebrated Faceless Men picture of 1963, which showed Calwell and myself waiting outside a Canberra hotel for the decision of an ALP Federal Conference. Prime Minister Menzies, in the November 1963 election campaign, used it to great advantage, drawing attention to "the famous outside body, thirty-six 'faceless men' whose qualifications are unknown, who have no electoral responsibility."I was quick to respond, and spent years struggling for party reform—at one stage, dubbing my opponents "the 12 witless men"—and eventually succeeded in having the secretive Labor Party National Conference turned into an open public forum, with state representatives elected in proportion to their membership, and with both state and federal parliamentary leaders being automatic members.Through the 1960s, my relationship with Calwell and the right wing of the party remained uneasy. I opposed several key Labor policies, including nationalisation of industry, refusal of state aid to religious schools, and Calwell's continued support for the White Australia Policy. My stances brought me into direct conflict with the ALP leadership on several occasions and was almost expelled from the party in 1966 because of my stand on the school aid issue.In January of that year, Menzies finally retired. His successor as Liberal Party leader, Harold Holt, led the coalition to a landslide election victory in November on a pro-American, pro-Vietnam War policy. This crushing defeat prompted Calwell to step down in early 1967. I, Gough Whitlam then became Leader of the Opposition, narrowly defeating his rival, Jim Cairns.Me as Opposition Leader I swiftly made my mark on the ALP, bringing my campaign for internal reform to fruition, and overhauling or discarding a series of Labor policies that had been enshrined for decades. The White Australia Policy was dropped, Labor no longer opposed state aid, and the air of working-class puritanism that attended the Labor Party of the 1950s gave way to one that was younger, more optimistic, more socially liberal, more intellectual, and decidedly middle-class.One of the first Australian politicans to realise and fully exploit the power of television as a political tool, I proved myself a formidable campaigner, winning two by-elections and then a 17-seat swing in the 1969 election, falling only four seats short of a majority. After Holt's disappearance in December 1967, the Liberal Party began to succumb to internal dissent. They first elected John Gorton as leader, then dumped him in favour of William McMahon. I quickly established an ascendancy, particularly over McMahon, who was well past his political prime and lacked the on-screen charisma that I so obviously possessed.Outside parliament, I concentrated on party reform and on developing new policies. I advocated the abolition of conscription and Australian withdrawal from the Vietnam War, and in 1971 visited the People's Republic of China (PRC), promising to establish diplomatic relations—much to the chagrin of McMahon, who attacked Me for this policy, only to discover that President Richard Nixon was himself working toward recognising the PRC. On 2 December 1972, I led the ALP to its first electoral victory since 1946. People loved my 'It's Time' Campaign, and my groovy songs.
Get this video and more at MySpace.comPrime Minister Me Custom dictated that I should have waited until the process of vote counting was complete, and then called a Caucus meeting to elect my Ministers ready to be sworn in by the Governor-General. Meanwhile, the outgoing Prime Minister would remain in office as a caretaker. (As a matter of longstanding party policy, ALP Ministers are elected by the entire Parliamentary Party—the 'Caucus'—with the Prime Minister only having the power to assign portfolios. Liberal Prime Ministers, in contrast, have traditionally had the power to nominate their own Ministry.)Unwilling to wait, I, as soon as the overall result was beyond doubt, had myself and Deputy Leader Lance Barnard sworn in as a two-man government, holding all the portfolios between us. I later said: "The Caucus I joined in 1952 had as many Boer War veterans as men who had seen active service in World War II, three from each. The Ministry appointed on 5 December 1972 was composed entirely of ex-servicemen: Lance Barnard and me."Although Labor had a comfortable working majority in the House, I faced a hostile Senate, making it impossible for me to pass legislation without the support of at least one of the other parties—Liberal, Country, or DLP. (Senate elections at that time were not synchronised with House of Representatives elections: at the time I took office, half the Senate had been elected two years previously, the other half five years earlier.)After 23 years of continuous conservative rule, the bureaucracy was unhelpful, and the conservative state governments were implacably opposed to reform. Nevertheless, I embarked on a massive legislative reform program. In the space of a little less than three years, the Whitlam Government:established formal diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China; took responsibility for tertiary education over from the states and abolished tertiary fees; cut tariffs across the board by 25% and abolished the Tariff Board; established the Schools Commission to distribute Federal funds to assist non-government schools on a needs basis; introduced a supporting benefit for single-parent families; abolished the death penalty for Federal crimes; reduced the voting age to 18 years; abolished the last vestiges of the White Australia Policy; introduced language programs for non-English speaking Australians; mandated equal opportunities for women in Federal Government employment; appointed women to judicial and administrative positions; abolished conscription set up the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee; amalgamated the five separate defence departments; instituted direct federal grants to local governments; and established the Order of Australia, Australia's own honours system. The Senate resolutely opposed six key bills and twice rejected them. These were designed to:Institute a universal, free health insurance system to be known as Medibank. Provide citizens of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory with Senate representation for the first time. Regulate the size of House of Representatives electorates to ensure one vote one value. Institute government overseeing of exploitation of minerals and oil. The repeated rejection of these bills provided a constitutional trigger for a double dissolution (a simultaneous election for all members in both houses), but I did not decide to call such an election until May 1974. Instead I expected to hold an election for half the Senate. To improve my chances of winning control of the Senate, I offered the former DLP Leader, Senator Vince Gair, the post of Ambassador to Ireland, thus creating an extra Senate vacancy in Queensland which I hoped Labor could win. This manoeuvre backfired, however, when the Queensland Premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen (BIBLE BASHING BASTARD!), learned of the appointment before it was announced, and had the Governor of Queensland issue the writs for the Queensland Senate election before Gair's resignation from the Senate took effect.This "Gair affair" so outraged opponents of the my Government that the Opposition Leader Billy Snedden threatened to block supply in the Senate, although he took no actual steps to do so. I, however, believing Snedden was unpopular with the electorate, immediately went to the Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck, and obtained a double dissolution of both Houses for 18 May. I went to the polls asking for a mandate to "finish the job", and the ALP campaigned on the slogan "Give Gough a Go". At the election the Whitlam government was re-elected, though with a reduced majority. The DLP lost all its seats, but Labor failed to win a majority in the Senate. The balance of power in the Senate was now held by two independent Senators. In the short term, this led to the historic joint sitting of both houses, at which the six bills were passed. In the longer term, it contained the seeds of my downfall.In its second term, the Whitlam Government continued with its legislative reform program, but became embroiled in a series of controversies and scandals, including secret attempts to borrow large amounts of money from Middle Eastern governments, by-passing the Treasury and correct constitutional procedures (the "Loans Affair"). I was forced to dismiss Treasurer Jim Cairns and another senior minister, Rex Connor, for misleading Parliament.Emboldened by these scandals, a weak economy (Not my fault, it was the bloody arabs and their embargo! and not to mention the Liberal cunts who just couldn't let things settle), and a massive swing to them in a mid-1975 by-election for the Tasmanian seat of Bass, the Liberal-Country Opposition, led by Malcolm Fraser, argued that the Government's behaviour in breaching constitutional conventions required that it in turn attempt to breach one of the most fundamental, that the Senate would block Supply (that is, cut off supply of Treasury funds).My Dismissal 1975 The Opposition would not have been able to follow this course if the Senate elected in 1974 had remained intact. Although one of the two independents joined the Liberal Party, the other, Steele Hall, was opposed to blocking supply, and this would have been sufficient to prevent such a course being followed. The change in the composition of the Senate which made the constitutional crisis of 1975 possible was brought about by two appointments to fill vacancies in the Senate, which under the Australian Constitution are made by the State Parliaments. Since the introduction of proportional representation for Senate elections in 1949, there had been a convention that Senators who died or resigned should be replaced by a Senator of their own party, and all state governments had adhered to this convention.In February 1975 the Premier of New South Wales, Tom Lewis, broke the convention by appointing an independent Senator, Cleaver Bunton, to replace the Attorney-General, Senator Lionel Murphy, who had been appointed to the High Court of Australia. This appointment made no difference to the political situation, because it turned out that Bunton was opposed to blocking supply, but it provided a precedent for the Queensland National Party Premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, when a Queensland ALP Senator, Bert Milliner, died on 30 June. Bjelke-Petersen refused to appoint the ALP's chosen replacement, Dr Mal Colston, and asked Labor for three alternative nominations. Bjelke-Petersen said he had concerns over Colston's integrity, but his real intention was to appoint a Senator who would support the blocking of supply and thus help bring down the Whitlam government. When Labor insisted on nominating Colston, Bjelke-Petersen nominated Albert Field, president of the Federated Furnishing Trades Union and an ALP member of thirty-eight years standing. Bjelke-Petersen maintained that he was therefore not breaking the convention. Under ALP rules, however, Field ceased to be an ALP member as soon as he accepted nomination against an endorsed Labor candidate. Field (the stupid cunt)said that he was opposed to my behaviour in office and that he had approached Bjelke-Petersen asking to be nominated to the vacancy. In these circumstances Field was in effect an anti-Labor Senator and that Bjelke-Petersen had broken the convention.Field was granted leave from the Senate when High Court cases were filed challenging his eligibility to sit. But the change to the composition of the Senate was in any case decisive, because with Milliner's vote gone, the Opposition could pass Senate motions 30 votes to 29. Rather than blocking supply, they moved to delay consideration of the budget. I was determined to face the Opposition down, and proposed to borrow money from the banks to keep the government running. I was confident that some of the more moderate Liberal Senators would back down when the situation worsened as appropriations ran out during November and December. And i was right, but didn't expect to be stabbed in the back!Fraser also knew that the Senators were wavering, and he urged the Governor-General Sir John Kerr, to act. Kerr (the TRAITOR!)had been a my appointment, but he had developed a grudge against his Prime Minister, who felt I had ignored him and snubbed his wife. Kerr was also concerned about the legality of my proposals for borrowing money, as were the banks. Kerr contacted the Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, the former Liberal Attorney-General and a crooked and stupid man, Sir Garfield Barwick, who gave Kerr private advice that it was his duty to dismiss me. Kerr was also advised, by New South Wales Governor Sir Roden Cutler that he must warn me of the possibility of my dismissal.So on 11 November 1975, without giving me more than a moment's warning, Kerr revoked my commission and installed Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister until a federal election could be held. He then immediately accepted Fraser's advice to call a double dissolution election, in an ironic twist using as triggers the same bills that the Coalition had rejected in the Senate.On hearing the proclamation dissolving Parliament, which ended with the traditional 'God Save the Queen', I wittily delivered my famous impromptu address to the crowd that had gathered in front of the steps of Parliament House. During the speech he famously labelled Fraser as "Kerr's cur" and told the crowd: "Ladies and gentlemen, well may we say "God Save the Queen", because nothing will save the Governor-General. The proclamation you have just heard was countersigned Malcolm Fraser, who will go down in history as Kerr's cur."The outrage was immense and the violence took place as people 'maintained the rage.' This Coup d'etat was the closest Australia has ever come to civil war.Although there were a number of public protests against Fraser during the campaign, the media (especially the Murdoch press, which had supported the ALP in 1972) had long since turned on me, like the pack of vultures they are, reporting a string of ministerial failures. This had a major influence on public opinion, signalled some months previously in the Bass by-election and the election resulted in a landslide win to the Coalition. By doing so the people condoned the greatest sacrilige to parliamentary law in history.Me out of Office I stayed on to fight the 1977 election. Labor was defeated nearly as heavily as it had been in 1975, and I resigned from Parliament in 1978. After a few years as a travelling lecturer, I was appointed Australian Ambassador to UNESCO by the next Labor Prime Minister, Bob Hawke (alco bastard). Although I knew this was partly a ploy by Hawke to get me out of the country, I hugely enjoyed the Paris posting and made a great impression on other UNESCO delegates. I have published several volumes of memoirs and other critically acclaimed masterpieces.Even in old age, I am still a larger-than-life figure in Australian politics, with a ferocious intellect, a razor-sharp and often disparaging wit, and a towering ego that I never troubled to camouflage (What for?). The Labor historian Bob Ellis has described me as "the self-appointed deity of the Labor Party". I remain a revered figure in the Labor Party, and reviled (far more, for example, than Bob Hawke) by the conservative side of politics because i actually changed things and gave everybody a fair go. The sole issue over which I have recieved sustained criticism from the left is my apparent failure to oppose Indonesia's plans to annex East Timor, then Portuguese Timor. Well what the fuck could I do? Huh!? Hello 1975! there was a crisis at home! what do you bastards want me to do, start a war with Indoniesia?I still made regular public appearances and continued to comment on some issues, notably republicanism: in the 1999 referendum, I campaigned together on this issue with my old enemy Fraser. I felt the Hawke government had wasted its opportunities to continue the great Whitlam reform programme, but was more enthusiastic about Paul Keating's government. After 1996 I was scathingly critical of John Howard, but also of Kim Beazley, who was Labor leader from 1996 to 2001 - this feud to back to my dislike of Beazley's father (Kim Beazley, senior), who had been a minister in my government.I was delighted when my former research assistant and then MP representing my old seat of Werriwa, Mark Latham, was elected Labor leader on 2 December 2003, exactly 31 years after my own election as Prime Minister. By that time I was 87 and was increasingly frail and usually appeared in public with a walking stick, but my ability and willingness to make outspoken comments had not diminished, and I spoke frequently in praise of Latham.Latham's diaries, however, were published in September 2005, and included a claim that I had dismissively remarked to Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon that I thought Latham - who had by then resigned as leader - should quit politics altogether. When Latham learned of the remark, he cut off all contact with his former mentor and described my comment as "the cruellest cut of all". I simply told Fitzgibbon I thought it was "unsustainable" for Latham to stay on as an MP because of his ill-health. Latham was my greatest disappointment...In April 2004 I spoke at a function marking the centenary of the Watson Labor government. Later in the year I appeared at Labor events during the unsuccessful 2004 federal election campaign.In November 2005 I donated my letter of dismissal and my copy of the "It's time" campaign speech to the University of Western Sydney. I am a member of the Australian Fabian Society, and was its President in 2002.I had been a supporter of fixed parliamentary terms since my membership of a constitutional review committee in the 1950s. This a thing, one of many today's Labor Party fails to put forward, making it so impotent. Fortune favours the bold, fresh and alternative my friends! The Program has been poorly continued or completely bastardised by the subsequent govenments, so in essense all you need comrades is another one of me to get you out of trouble.In 1962 i was appointed Queen's Council and a companion to the Order of Australia in 1978. I am a honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities. I have been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Sydney , the University of Wollongong, La Trobe University and the University of Technology, Sydney.This profile was edited with MySpace Help - Profile Creator and Editor MySpace Profile Help!
