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Gough Whitlam Quotes

Edward Gough Whitlam was the 21st Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The Leader of the Labor Party from 1967 to 1977, Whitlam led his party to power for the first time in 23 years at the 1972 election. He won the 1974 election before being controversially dismissed by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Australian prime minister to have been removed from office in this manner.

Whitlam served as an air navigator in the Royal Australian Air Force for four years during World War II, and worked as a barrister following the war. He was first elected to Parliament in 1952, representing Werriwa in the House of Representatives. Whitlam became Deputy Leader of the Labor Party in 1960, and in 1967, after the retirement of Arthur Calwell, was elected Leader and became the Leader of the Opposition. After narrowly losing the 1969 election, Whitlam led Labor to victory at the 1972 election after 23 years of continuous Liberal-Country Coalition Government.

The Whitlam Government implemented a large number of new programs and policy changes, including the termination of military conscription, institution of universal health care and free university education, and the implementation of legal aid programs. With the opposition-controlled Senate delaying passage of bills, Whitlam called a double dissolution election in 1974 in which he won a majority in the House of Representatives, albeit a slightly reduced one, and picked up three Senate seats. The Whitlam government then instituted the first and only joint sitting enabled under s. 57 of the Constitution as part of the double dissolution process. Despite the government's second election victory, the opposition, reacting to government scandals and a flagging economy suffering from the 1973 oil crisis and the 1973–75 recession, continued to obstruct the government's program in the Senate. In late 1975, the Opposition Senators refused to allow a vote on the government's appropriation bills, returning them to the House of Representatives with a demand that the government go to an election, thus denying the government supply. Whitlam refused to back down, arguing that his government, which held a clear majority in the House of Representatives, was being held to ransom by the Senate. The crisis ended on 11 November, when Whitlam arrived at a pre-arranged meeting with the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, at Government House in order to call a half-Senate election. Kerr dismissed him and commissioned the opposition leader, Malcolm Fraser, as prime minister. Labor lost the subsequent election by a landslide.

Whitlam stepped down after losing again at the 1977 election, and retired from parliament in 1978. Upon the election of the Hawke Government in 1983, he was appointed as Ambassador to UNESCO, a position he filled with distinction, and was elected a member of the UNESCO Executive Board. He remained active into his nineties. The propriety and circumstances of his dismissal and the legacy of his government have been frequently debated in the decades after he left office. Wikipedia  

✵ 11. July 1916 – 21. October 2014
Gough Whitlam photo
Gough Whitlam: 10 quotes1 like

Famous Gough Whitlam Quotes

“He reveals that he has been a poor politician, a bad judge and a malevolent individual.”

Gough Whitlam

Abiding Interests (1997), p. 44
On Garfield Barwick

“When Sir Winton Turnbull [who represented a large rural seat], a slow and sometimes stumbling speaker, was raving and ranting on the adjournment and shouted: "I am a Count–ry member". I interjected "I remember". Sir Winton could not understand why, for the first time in all the years he had been speaking in the House, there was instant and loud applause from both sides.”

Gough Whitlam

From a speech during a debate on the question That Politicians Have Lost Their Sense Of Humour http://whitlamdismissal.com/2000/05/24/whitlam-sense-of-humour-debate.html, Sydney Town Hall, 24 May 2000

“We would do absolutely nothing. Now that's a blunt, truthful answer.”

Gough Whitlam

When asked what a Labor government would do if Indonesia were to invade East Timor, in an interview three days before the invasion. Sydney Morning Herald (5 December 1975)

“A conservative government survives essentially by dampening expectations and subduing hopes. Conservatism is basically pessimistic, reformism is basically optimistic.”

Gough Whitlam

Self-quoted in The Whitlam Government 1972–1975 by Gough Whitlam

“I was profoundly embarrassed by it [the White Australia Policy] and did all I could to change it.”

Gough Whitlam

Quoted in Paul Kelly, 100 Years – The Australian Story (Allen & Unwin, ABC Books, NSW, 2001), p. 196

“Well may we say "God save the Queen", because nothing will save the Governor-General! The Proclamation which you have just heard read by the Governor-General's Official Secretary was countersigned "Malcolm Fraser," who will undoubtedly go down in Australian history from Remembrance Day 1975 as Kerr's cur. They won't silence the outskirts of Parliament House, even if the inside has been silenced for the next few weeks … Maintain your rage and enthusiasm for the campaign for the election now to be held and until polling day.”

Gough Whitlam

On hearing the proclamation dismissing him from office, which ended with the previous official wording "God Save the Queen" which had been abolished by his government and unilaterally re-instated by David Smith, the Governor-General's Official Secretary, at that moment - the first of many changes undertaken by the so-called "caretaker" government.

Source: [Gough Whitlam dead: His memorable quotes, 21 October 2014, 2 May 2019, https://www.smh.com.au/national/gough-whitlam-dead-his-memorable-quotes-20141021-1193jd.html, Sydney Morning Herald, smh.com.au, Murphy, D]

Gough Whitlam Quotes

“If I begin my book with a review of the coup, it is only to show that my abiding interests for Australia did not end with it. They shall end only with a long and fortunate life.”

Gough Whitlam

Abiding Interests (1997), Foreword

“Vincent Lingiari, I solemnly hand to you these deeds as proof, in Australian law, that these lands belong to the Gurindji people and I put into your hands part of the earth itself as a sign that this land will be the possession of you and your children forever.”

Gough Whitlam

Gurindji Land Ceremony Speech http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/speeches/whitlam.htm, 16 August 1975

“The punters know that the horse named Morality rarely gets past the post, whereas the nag named Self-interest always runs a good race.”

Gough Whitlam

Written by Gough Whitlam for the London Daily Telegraph, (19 October 1989). (Andrews, 1993, p. 824)

“Let me make quite clear that I am for abortion and, in your case sir, we should make it retrospective.”

Gough Whitlam

After being heckled by a voter during a campaign trail.
Source: [Gough Whitlam dead: His memorable quotes, 21 October 2014, 2 May 2019, https://www.smh.com.au/national/gough-whitlam-dead-his-memorable-quotes-20141021-1193jd.html, Sydney Morning Herald, smh.com.au, Murphy, D]
Source: [Gough Whitlam remembered for his quick wit, Mills, D; Rajca, J, news.com.au, News Corp Australia Network, https://www.news.com.au/national/gough-whitlam-remembered-for-his-quick-wit-and-that-tv-ad-for-leggos-pasta-sauce/news-story/007e66ff548bffb6b48cea049c16ff85, 21 October 2014, 2 May 2019]

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