Gough

[Tigers of Old]

Former PM Gough Whitlam passes away at the grand old age of 98.
My parents hold him in such high esteem, never since have they respected a politician as much.
RIP

 

[IanG]

RIP

His legacy is immense.

 

[tigerman]

A great, great man!

RIP Gough.

 

[CarnTheTiges]

Will never be forgotten. One of the greatest Australian political orators. RIP Gough.

 

[tigertim]

I was 7 when he got punted so I have no real memory of him as PM.

But 98 is a great knock, I'd be happy to take that.

 

[TigerForce]

Just heard this morning. RIP Gough at 98.....what an inning.

Great bloke and great wife. I wonder if he'll probably bump into the old GG again up there.....

 

[lamb22]

Absolute legend.

Basically created Australia's middle class, modernised Australia and turned workers into aspirationals.

The working man and woman went from second class citizen to front and centre.

Started with sewering all the major cities, introduced no fault divorce, recognised China (which has stood us in food stead) tidied up our exit from Vietnam, ended conscription, introduced accountabilty measures for citizens against governments through Administrative tribunals and FOI. granted land rights to our indigenous people put human rights on the agenda and gave the disadvantage and marginalised a voice, basically dragged up our film and artistic community into the light, introduced the forerunner to Medicare (Medibank) provided free tertiary education, increased benefits and oversaw a period in which wages growth massively outstripped inflation.

Gough took cost of living pressures off working people, gave them a level playing field and offered hope and social mobility to those who previously had little of either.

And all this in three years against a hostile senate, a treacherous Chief Justice, backdoor Fraser and the pond scum that was John Kerr.

Vale Gough. We wont see your like again.

 

[uhuh uhuh]

And he got rid of God Save the Queen as our national anthem!

 

[Tigers of Old]

Absolute legend.

Basically created Australia's middle class, modernised Australia and turned workers into aspirationals.

The working man and woman went from second class citizen to front and centre.

Started with sewering all the major cities, introduced no fault divorce, recognised China (which has stood us in food stead) tidied up our exit from Vietnam, ended conscription, introduced accountabilty measures for citizens against governments through Administrative tribunals and FOI. granted land rights to our indigenous people put human rights on the agenda and gave the disadvantage and marginalised a voice, basically dragged up our film and artistic community into the light, introduced the forerunner to Medicare (Medibank) provided free tertiary education, increased benefits and oversaw a period in which wages growth massively outstripped inflation.

Gough took cost of living pressures off working people, gave them a level playing field and offered hope and social mobility to those who previously had little of either.

And all this in three years against a hostile senate, a treacherous Chief Justice, backdoor Fraser and the pond scum that was John Kerr.

Vale Gough. We wont see your like again.

:clap

 

[tigersnake]

Absolute legend.

Basically created Australia's middle class, modernised Australia and turned workers into aspirationals.

The working man and woman went from second class citizen to front and centre.

Started with sewering all the major cities, introduced no fault divorce, recognised China (which has stood us in food stead) tidied up our exit from Vietnam, ended conscription, introduced accountabilty measures for citizens against governments through Administrative tribunals and FOI. granted land rights to our indigenous people put human rights on the agenda and gave the disadvantage and marginalised a voice, basically dragged up our film and artistic community into the light, introduced the forerunner to Medicare (Medibank) provided free tertiary education, increased benefits and oversaw a period in which wages growth massively outstripped inflation.

Gough took cost of living pressures off working people, gave them a level playing field and offered hope and social mobility to those who previously had little of either.

And all this in three years against a hostile senate, a treacherous Chief Justice, backdoor Fraser and the pond scum that was John Kerr.

Vale Gough. We wont see your like again.

agree with the sentiment, and most of your post. Minor point of order on the land rights. Gough handed back Wave Hill as a one-off gazettal, it was prior to the ALRA (NT), which was drafted but didn't get through the senate. To his credit, Fraser passed it mostly unammended as one of his first acts in office.

They don't make 'em like that anymore.

 

[Disco]

As someone who was born in 72 around the time he was in power, I was quite surprised with the legacy he has left our country.
Amazing achievements.

 

[pahoffm]

It's Tim (joke)

As a boy in that time, I remember 3 '' elections in 3 '' years.
And business getting hit with a sledgehammer. Building industry went belly up.
Took years to recover, and Fraser didn't make things any better.

Best part of that time were the RFC's 73 & 74 premierships.

RIP (Good riddance!)

A couple of relevant Youtubes.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jykIqQxEOw[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHJiAOzYEjk[/youtube]

 

[Sintiger]

His Government tried to do too much too quickly and created economic problems but sometimes government and leadership is about more than economics. Whitlam dragged the country and it's people into the modern world , some came kicking and some came willingly.

After 23 years under the Coalition Australia was a cultural and social backwater. It truly was time in 1972, we needed a kick and he delivered it. It needs to be remembered how divided the country was then, there was genuine social dissent, mainly over the Vietnam war but also over issues such as indigenous rights, abortion, multiculturalism, equal pay for women and many others. The young were questioning what Australia stood for and that was the first time it ever had happened.

Gough was the catalyst for change in Australia, he turned us into a grown up country.

In economic terms it was most probably a very poor Government , in social terms the Whitlam years are arguably the most important in Australia's history.

 

[lamb22]

agree with the sentiment, and most of your post. Minor point of order on the land rights. Gough handed back Wave Hill as a one-off gazettal, it was prior to the ALRA (NT), which was drafted but didn't get through the senate. To his credit, Fraser passed it mostly unammended as one of his first acts in office.

They don't make 'em like that anymore.

True that ......he was constrained by the senate.

Some of the other things that didn't get up because the senate blocked them or time ran out were the Disability Insurance scheme and buying back the farm (ie our minerals).

Can you imagine us with a Norway style sovereign fund over all our energy resources going back to say 1975 - 1980.

There would be no deficits, we could fund great programs and infrastructure regulatly and easily and rich lazy fat stupid mining magnates would just be lazy fat and stupid.

 

[TigerForce]

His Government tried to do too much too quickly and created economic problems but sometimes government and leadership is about more than economics. Whitlam dragged the country and it's people into the modern world , some came kicking and some came willingly.

After 23 years under the Coalition Australia was a cultural and social backwater. It truly was time in 1972, we needed a kick and he delivered it. It needs to be remembered how divided the country was then, there was genuine social dissent, mainly over the Vietnam war but also over issues such as indigenous rights, abortion, multiculturalism, equal pay for women and many others. The young were questioning what Australia stood for and that was the first time it ever had happened.

Gough was the catalyst for change in Australia, he turned us into a grown up country.

In economic terms it was most probably a very poor Government , in social terms the Whitlam years are arguably the most important in Australia's history.

Great doco on Channel 2. We'll we ever see PMs like this again....

 

[lamb22]

In economic terms it was most probably a very poor Government , in social terms the Whitlam years are arguably the most important in Australia's history.

Disagree profusely.

Gough was more likely an economic genius but the benefits of wealth and opportunity were for PEOPLE long term and not governments short term.

Some mistakes were made but certain remedies could not pass because he lacked numbers and of course the oil crisis and the plateauing of post war growth hit pretty much every advanced economy from about 1974 onwards.. BUT..

All those who benefited from his free unis might want to consider how much wealthier that policy made them.

Or how much a a medicare saves a family budget and the financial existence of the family itself when catastrophe hits.

How much tribunals and fault free divorce save people money in legal disputes.

Or how much our trade with China means to us considering Gough established that relationship.

Also Gough's government was the high watermark in wage and salary earners proportion of Australia's income.

Under Gough they constituted 64.7% of Gross Domestic product (roughly what Australia makes each year calculated in the value of goods and services)

Under Howard it got down to 52% after Workchoices was introduced.

And as I alluded to in a previous post... How rich would we have collectively been if our government owned our energy resources pretty much like Norway does?

It was a life well lived and many of us probably need to consider how Gough gave so many the opportunity to advance their economic status as well as respecting the dignity of all australians regrdless of sex, orientation, ethnicity or religion.

And just as a postscript he forced the Country party to change its name if I remember well? ;D

 

[lamb22]

In economic terms it was most probably a very poor Government , in social terms the Whitlam years are arguably the most important in Australia's history.

Agree entirely.

It was our coming of age.

 

[Baloo]

And just as a postscript he forced the Country party to change its name if I remember well? ;D

Yes, and I remember.

 

[Chiang Mai Tiger]

The only stain I can place on Gough is that he didn't have the guts to confront the Indonesians after Balibo

 

[Sintiger]

Disagree profusely.

Gough was more likely an economic genius but the benefits of wealth and opportunity were for PEOPLE long term and not governments short term.

Some mistakes were made but certain remedies could not pass because he lacked numbers and of course the oil crisis and the plateauing of post war growth hit pretty much every advanced economy from about 1974 onwards.. BUT..

All those who benefited from his free unis might want to consider how much wealthier that policy made them.

Or how much a a medicare saves a family budget and the financial existence of the family itself when catastrophe hits.

How much tribunals and fault free divorce save people money in legal disputes.

Or how much our trade with China means to us considering Gough established that relationship.

Also Gough's government was the high watermark in wage and salary earners proportion of Australia's income.

Under Gough they constituted 64.7% of Gross Domestic product (roughly what Australia makes each year calculated in the value of goods and services)

Under Howard it got down to 52% after Workchoices was introduced.

And as I alluded to in a previous post... How rich would we have collectively been if our government owned our energy resources pretty much like Norway does?

It was a life well lived and many of us probably need to consider how Gough gave so many the opportunity to advance their economic status as well as respecting the dignity of all australians regrdless of sex, orientation, ethnicity or religion.

And just as a postscript he forced the Country party to change its name if I remember well? ;D

I think the problems you allude to were also in his own party in that he had some Caucus members who didn't care how big the budget deficit was. Gough actually tried hard to bring in fiscal discipline and control the budget but was continually overruled in caucus by people like Jim Cairns and Clyde Cameron.
Whilst I don't necessarily disagree with a lot of your points the problem the Government had was paying for what they did at the time.
The resources ownership is a major one. The way the benefits of ownership of our own land and the minerals in it have been able to flow to individuals and companies rather than all Australians is a great shame. The Mining resources rent tax was a small attempt to change that but it was too little too late and is now gone.