Goodbye Gough Whitlam

When I penned this previous article about Gough Whitlam at the beginning of the month, I promised to write an obituary on him when his time came. Little did I anticipate, that 4 weeks later, I would be doing just that. Edward Gough Whitlam died in Sydney on Oct 21st, he was 98. He was privately cremated the next day, however a full state public memorial service will be held in his honour on November 5th, 2014.

 

 

 

You can read a bit about Gough's life in Wikipedia, but really there's so much he did and achieved that any article will not sufficiently express it. He's of course remembered as a martyr following his unjustified dismissal by the Governor-General (GG), Sir John Kerr on Remembrance Day 1975. But Gough himself said he would rather not want to be remembered as one, rather for what he did. And boy did he do a lot.

 

 

Edward Gough Whitlam was born July 11th, 1916 in Melbourne. A tall strapping lad (he would grow to 1.94m), he studied at Knox Grammar, a top Sydney Christian school. He would go on to read Law in university, just like his father, who rose to become Crown Solicitor. A distinguished lawyer, Gough was also made a Queen's Counsel (QC).

 

 

 

In between his education and legal career, WWII broke out and he voluntarily joined the RAAF as a flight navigator, rising to the rank of Flight Lieutenant (equivalent of a Captain's rank). He resumed his legal practise thereafter and would have risen to the very top, with possibly a Judgeship in the highest court - The Supreme Court of Australia. Instead he was moved by the socialist aspects of life or the lack thereof in Australian society, in particular the deprivation of rights to the Aborigines - the native people of Australia. He thus joined the Australian Labour Party (ALP) and tried unsuccessfully to win a seat in first, a state Parliament and later, the Federal Parliament. But defeat did not deter him, and he finally was elected to the House of Representatives in the 1952 Werriwa by-election. He would hold on to this seat for 26 years.

 

 

He married Margaret Dovey in 1942 and their union lasted 70 years. He remarked that she was his 'best ever appointment.' Indeed she would be his pillar of support, although she was fiercely independent and recognised as a champion for woman's rights in her own right.

 

 

Gough wasn't so easily loved initially by his party. Many scoffed at his upper middle-class upbringing, wondering if he really understood the lives and needs of the lower echelons of society that the ALP traditionally represented and that of workers and trade unions. But he won them over and rose to become Deputy Leader in 1960.

 

 

 

Try as they may, the ALP just could not seem to outwit the Liberal/Country (later National) Coalition led by Sir Robert Menzies, who would become Australia's longest serving Prime Minsiter (PM). Defeat after defeat followed, and when his leader, Arthur Calwell retired in 1967, Whitlam was elected Leader. He took over a party in disarray and demoralised after 18 years in the wilderness. Worse, the party was riveted by factionalism, led by the trade unions and the extreme left - the DLP. Gough had to work hard to unite all these factions and at the same time formulate policies of his own, while always attacking the Govt, now led by Gorton and McMahon, following Menzies' retirement.

He came within a whisker of winning power in the 1969 elections, falling just 7 seats short. Had the voting been counted with 'the 2 vote preferential system', now currently employed, he would have won. In Australia, you cast your vote for your first choice and then a second choice. A percentage of the latter is calculated in the final results.

 

 

Despite the defeat, the tide had turned, and Gough would only grow in stature and be viewed as a 'PM in waiting.' When the elections of 1972 came, the ALP was well and truly prepared and united under Gough. He chose a simple but effective slogan - 'It's time.' It was time for Australia to wake up, time for it to focus on youth, time to give women greater say, to make Australia more involved in Asia, in particular South East Asia and China and to recognise ethnic minorities especially the Aborigines as equals.

 

 

 

 

The ALP duly won, after 23 long years of Liberal rule and Gough wasted little time in getting down to work together with his deputy, Lance Barnard. He and Barnard shared 23 Ministries between them and together they dismantled policies that did not require Parliamentary approval. Known as the 'duumvirate',  they implemented changes until the full Cabinet was sworn in. These included:

 

1) Ending involvement in the Vietnam War

2) Recognising China

3) Recognising the right of women to equal pay

4) Ended conscription

5) Decried apartheid and opposed it.

 

After the full ministry was sworn in, the ALP wasted little time in enacting legislation. I believe they introduced at total of 253 Bills in their 3 years in office, although the Liberal Coalition managed to block around 98, through its hold on the Senate. Australia has a bicarmel Parliament. Real power lies in the House, although the Senate can act as a supervisory body and block legislation. Nonetheless the following are further examples of what the ALP did do during Gough's tenure as PM:

 

In addition to the above 5:

 

6) Lowered the voting age to 18 (Gough said if you are old enough to die for your country, you should be old enough to vote).

7) Recognised that Australia's future lay in Asia, loosening the bonds between Australia and the UK and the rest of the Western world. He provided humanitarian aid to Indonesia, Thailand, Indo-China and worked hard to improve trade and relations with Singapore and Malaysia.

8) Ended the 'White Australia' policy on immigration. Until then only White migrants were granted citizenship status in Australia.

9) Provided sewerage facilities to all major cities. (Can you imagine that right up to then, cities like Melbourne and Sydney did not have full sewerage facilities!)

10) Ended discrimination of minorities. Shockingly the Aborigines and others were not even allowed to hold an international passport.

11) Introduced the 'preferential voting system.' 

12) Gave the Aborigines their land rights back and recognised their role in Australian society.

13) Introduced Medivac - (now known as Medicare) giving health insurance across the board.

14) Increased welfare for the disabled and needy.

15) Allowed abortion

16) Provided free tertiary education to all Australian youths. (This allowed many to be able to attend university for the first time, this legislation was later changed to provide it only through 'means testing' by future Govts)

17) Substantially increased women's rights - the right to a 'no contest divorce', the right to work and paid maternity leave.

18) Scrapped the UK Honours system, creating Australia's own Awards and Honours system. This literally ended all knighthoods and similar royal titles, until the current Abbot Govt recently reintroduced it. Gough had done this to create a unique 'own identity' for Australia, not as an 'outpost for Britain.'

19) Changed the National Anthem from 'God Save the Queen' to 'Advance Australia Fair.' (The former is still in use as the Royal Anthem for the Queen, when she or the Royal Family visit and for the GG, as her representative). The Queen's role in Australia was changed to reflect her new title as Queen of Australia.

20) Granted Papua New Guinea independence. Gough believed that Australia could not be expected to be supported in promoting freedom and human rights as they did on apartheid, if they remained an imperialist power with a colony.

21) Boosted the Arts and Culture. Created the National Council for the Arts and encouraged the production of the movie, television and music industries.

22) Environmental protection. Without Gough we may not have today 1 of the most iconic natural Australian Heritage sites - The Great Barrier Reef. The state govt wanted to drill it, but Gough overruled it and introduced legislation to protect the environment.

 

 

These are just some of the things Gough did during his tenure as PM. There's a lot more. Gough was a firm believer that when you said or campaigned on something, you must keep your promise. It's the duty of Govt to introduce reform, to look at old policies and change it to suit the modern times.

 

 

We come to the most iconic moment of his time - The Dismissal on 11/11/1975. Despite their fantastic and breath-taking moves in Govt, Gough made 1 fatal error, or rather an unforced error - the economic malaise that befell the world following the worldwide oil crisis of 1973. When the OPEC countries raised the price of oil in 1973, it raised inflation worldwide. Many Govts had to grapple with it and many struggled. But it affected Gough's Govt badly. They took a long time to come to grips with it, resulting in industries like wool, mining and farming taking a beating. Worse he had raised wages and this made inflation much worse.  

 

With inflation rising and the economy tanking, news of the borrowing attempts was greeted with a wave of anger. As such in May/June 1975, Gough announced in Parliament that the policy was scrapped and explicitly said in Parliament that Connor had ceased contact. However in September, it emerged that Connor still had contact with Themlani after the instruction to stop was given. Themlani first met an Australian reporter in a Singapore hotel and provided documentary proof, and later flew to Australia to confirm it in public.

 

 

This led to an outcry and Gough was forced to sack Connor. However, the shenanigans of Connor, gave the Opposition Leader, Malcolm Fraser, the ace card he needed to force Gough's hand into an early election. After a long period of indecisiveness, the new Treasurer Bill Hayden came up with a workable Budget that could boost Australia's economy. But although Fraser and the Liberals did not object to the Budget, he refused to allow the Senate to pass it - another break with convention that the Senate does not block Supply. This followed 2 other breaks in convention by Liberal state premiers - that any casual vacancy in the Senate would be replaced by members of the outgoing party, in this case obviously Labour. Instead 1 Liberal and another Liberal (Pat Fields) masquerading as Labour were appointed. This shifted the balance of power in the Senate, giving the Liberals a majority of 1.

 

Gough refused to be held to ransom. His belief after 1974, never again would he allow the Senate to dictate the timing of an election or trample the House's power to pass Supply. Moreover he needed Hayden's Budget to take effect to have any chance of retaining power, an early election would almost certainly spell defeat. Fraser on the other hand knew he was playing a high risk game - he still was a new Leader and did not have full support of the party. If this ploy - to only block not defeat the Budget failed, the repercussions would fall squarely on him. Every country needs a Budget to operate, and as seen in recent years in the USA, the public usually will punish the party that blocks the Budget which causes public services to stop and workers unpaid. Fraser knew he could not block Supply forever especially with Christmas looming, so he had to find a way to get that election.

 

 

 

Gough made 2 bad errors in appointments - Jim Cairns and Rex Connor, but it was his 3rd that proved fatalistic - the appointment of Sir John Kerr as GG. Kerr was originally a Labour member and had high aspirations of becoming Prime Minister. But he was hardly charismatic and was looked over for selection as an MP. He turned to Law and rose to become Chief Justice of New South Wales. By this time however, he had lost all love for the ALP, but Whitlam did not know this. Anyway it was irrelevant, the GG was to be above politics and by convention and Law had to take advice from his Ministers, except on the rare occasions where he could use the Reserve Powers. This included the refusal to accept advise to dissolve Parliament or the power to dismiss a Govt. While such actions are undoubtedly legal, the guiding principle of convention in a Whitehall democracy is that, you should only do so when the PM no longer commands the confidence of the House. Such a situation never arose with Gough because he had a comfortable majority in the House.

 

But Kerr unbeknownst to Gough had illusions of grandeur. 1 of the first things he did (later revealed) was to study in depth the powers of the GG. He automatically felt that he was 'the most important man in the country' because he had the power dismiss a PM. He always felt he had to so something so as to make his mark on history, unlike his predecessors or successors since. They knew that the GG was more like a 'safe-keeper,' whose powers would only need to be called upon in the most dire circumstances like a constitutional crisis, war or dire economic collapse. The events leading up to The Dismissal was never a constitutional crisis, but a political one - a game of poker between 2 politicians - Gough and Fraser.

 

 

 

Fraser knew he needed the election and used Kerr's own insecurities and misguided sense of self importance against him. He told Kerr, that he would be also be blamed if Supply was denied. What he didn't tell Kerr was that his own Senators were feeling the heat from their electorate, and 2, possibly up to 5 were already deciding to vote in favour of passage. Instead he put up a brave front to Kerr saying he wouldn't back down.

 

Gough on the other hand sensed he had public support on the matter and very early on in the crisis advised Kerr not to speak anyone else except himself and Fraser, and stated if need be he would call a half-Senate election to break the deadlock. Rather than express his reservations and disagreement with such advise which he ought to, as the principal roles of any Head of States in a constitutional democracy are to be advised, to advise and to warn, Kerr acted deceitfully and never once warned Gough of his intentions. He was afraid that he would be sacked if he did so. (The PM can both recommend an appointment and dismissal of a GG to the Queen, and the Queen following convention would almost certainly accept such advise).

 

Rather than put the national interests first, Kerr was more concerned with self-preservation, to make his mark on history and to show the country (and world) that he was the most powerful man in the land. So against explicit advice, he consulted Shadow SG Ellicott, Justice Mason and CJ Sir Garfield Barwick. In the case of the latter 2, this was most inappropriate, since if there was to be a constitutional challenge, the case would be decided in the Supreme Court where both judges sat. Moreover all 3 had been senior members of the Liberal Party. It was no surprise then, that their advise to Kerr on his request on what to do, was to sack Gough, since he could not procure Supply. It's also been revealed that Kerr in regards to the Judges, did not seek advise on what other avenues to pursue to break the deadlock, rather to find support from them, whether it would be proper to dismiss Gough.

 

Such advise besides being improper was also invalid. A Judge's opinion outside Court or the case before him, carries no significant legal weight. It's just a an opinion equal to ones given by any lawyer. And Kerr also failed to realise if he intervened, he had no power whatsoever over Fraser. The Constitution only gave the GG the power to sack a Govt, not the power to dismiss an Opposition Leader. Doing so, would give Fraser an enormous advantage and place Gough in a weak position, although under the Law, Kerr was duty bound to take in the views of his PM, his principal advisor, first and foremost, and not those of the Opposition Leader, or anyone else for the matter. Justices Mason and Barwick moreover besides their previous ties to the Liberals, had in the past year heard 2 constitutional cases involving the Labour Govt. In both cases, they ruled against the Govt but were defeated each time, because the majority of the other judges sitting on the Bench ruled in favour. As such neither could be considered as credible neutral persons to give advice on such a grave matter.

 

 

After being the victim of an ambush, an angry Gough lets fly outside the steps of Parliament. 

 

And so to November 11th, Gough had sought an audience with Kerr at 1pm to advise a half-Senate election, after consulting with the party caucus and with Fraser who refused to lift the blockage unless elections were called no later than May the following year. Kerr had deceitfully already prepared the Dismissal Letter and agreed to meet Gough. While the House was in session, he sent a note to Fraser requesting his attendance at 1.15pm. As Fraser had finished speaking earlier, he drove to Govt House to meet Kerr. But Whitlam had yet to arrive, so Fraser was spirited away to an ante room out of sight and his car was moved from the front porch to the back in similar fashion. Gough arrived at 1pm, unaware of Fraser's presence, and tendered his advise, but Kerr stopped him and asked whether he would call an election. When Gough taken aback at the remarks, said no, Kerr handed him his marching orders. Kerr said, "Well, we both just have to live with this." Gough simply replied - 'You certainly will, ' and left. That would be the last time he ever spoke to Kerr.

 

Kerr then commissioned Fraser, who promised to pass the Budget and would tender advise to dissolve Parliament. The Dismissal sent shockwaves across Australia and protests took place across the country, even one outside Parliament's steps. When the Senate reconvened at 2pm, they duly passed the Budget. Meanwhile in House, 2 motions were raised following Fraser's announcement that he was PM. The first - a no confidence vote against his Govt and the 2nd - a motion of confidence in favour of Gough. The Speaker then called the GG requesting an audience to reflect these votes and was told to come at around 4pm. He arrived and but was kept waiting. In the meantime, the paperwork for the dissolution was finally ready and Kerr duly signed it and sent his official secretary to Parliament to submit and proclaim it. Kerr did not meet Speaker Scholes at all.

 

And so the dramatic events on Parliament's steps took place - the secretary reading out the Proclamation and Gough uttering his iconic words:

 

 

 

Although the initial reaction to his dismissal was one of anger, the month long election campaign saw Fraser swiftly turning the topic on the economy. Gough had no answer to that, the Hayden Budget hadn't taken effect and he was duly thumped in the elections. He returned as Opposition Leader and continued to champion the causes he felt strongly about. But in the next elections in 1977, he was unable to stop another Liberal landslide and promptly quit as Labour leader. He retired from Parliament the following year.

 

 Gough went on to serve as UNESCO Ambassador after leaving politics. Thereafter he wrote a number of books on his dismissal and time in office and was always a respected figure in Australia.

 

He was later appointed as Australian Ambassador to UNESCO and thereafter retired from public service altogether. But he was always in the public eye and a much sought after speaker. Although he never reconciled with Kerr, he bore Fraser no animosity and they became firm friends, Both campaigned unsuccessfully for the Yes! campaign in the 1997 referendum to make Australia a republic.

 

 

Upon his death, the House of Representatives heard a motion of confidence in his honour on October 21st. You can watch the full debate in the video below: 

 

 

 

It's a bit long, so you can just watch the bits you want. But a common refrain emerges - his enormous contributions to Australia and the lasting effects of his legacy, even now some 40 years since he left office. As former PM, Paul Keating said. in Australian history, there's a specific timeframe - pre-1972 and post-1972. It's amazing that Australia up to 1972 was so backward in its outlook. Gough took them by 'the scruff the neck, kicking and screaming' into the 21st century. Indeed many of the things he introduced were very controversial and unpopular, yet today it's taken as a given that these are parts of the greater Australian fabric. He was so far ahead of his time.

 

 

 

Indeed if there's any lessons to be learnt by politicians today, even here in Singapore, from his time in power, is that you must stay true to your beliefs. You must have courage of convictions and believe in true and genuine reform. That policies must be inclusive and special care taken in regards to the minorities, the sick, the elderly and needy. Govts must not be afraid to reform and not rest on their laurels. And of course, not seek to do too many things too fast at the expense of overburdening the economy. Asked once how he would like to be remembered, he accepted the version of one of his allies - Neville Wran (a former State Premier):

 

 Caesar Augustus found Rome built of bricks and left it in marble; Gough Whitlam found the outer suburbs of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane unsewered and left them fully flushed.