WHITLAM GOVERNMENT

Did the Whitlam Government change Australia?

Did the Whitlam Government change Australia?

Introduction

We are going discuss here about the Whitlam Government which had changed Australia in different perspective. More than any other part of the old Empire, Australia remains inhibited and limited by its nostalgia for past associations and pretensions which the British nation, and in particular, the British monarch have long since abandoned. Nothing has done more to retard Australia's relations with Britain or to distort the very real and substantial nature of that relationship than the obsessions of the Australian conservatives with the British connection and their manipulation of the monarchy and their exploitation of the perquisites and privileges associated with it. Edward Gough Whitlam, 1985 Gough Whitlam was perhaps Australia's most controversial Prime Minister ever, and the Australian with arguably the most reason to resent our country's ties with Britain. For on Remembrance Day, 1975, the Governor General, Sir John Kerr, invoked his reserve powers to dismiss Whitlam as Prime Minister, something he could only do because he was supposedly acting on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II. Thus, it is to be expected that out of all of Australia's leading figures, Whitlam would have the most reason to feel strongly, one way or the other, about our mother country.

Discussion

Today, Whitlam declares himself to be a Republican, but he confesses he only came to this way of thinking after his dismissal, when he and the nation saw for the first time just how much power the Queen and her representatives really had, despite their lack of control over day to day running of the Government. At the onset of his career, Whitlam was quite proud of his Queen, he had, after all, fought in the Air force during the Second World War to defend Britain as well as Australia - but he always thought the Conservative parties held far too much attachment for time-honored traditions which there was no longer a place for in Australia. Australia needed to move on, to recognize that Britain's place was to be occupied by another country - the United States and that further; Australia needed to stop accepting so many British migrants and start looking at what peoples from other countries could offer Australia. Whitlam always believed in change his campaign slogan reflected this - and this attitude seems to stem largely from his sensitivity to how the rest of the world sees Australia.( Baker, 1989)

Edward Gough Whitlam was born on July 11, 1916, into a middle class family. His father worked for the Victorian State Government and then the Federal Government, ultimately becoming a Commonwealth Crown Solicitor (now titled Australian Government Solicitor), and his mother, as was the practice then, stayed at home.

Whitlam's upbringing was quite sound. He was encouraged to work hard and his parents sent him to reputable private schools. His family, however, did not push him into politics; indeed, Whitlam himself admitted years later that he became involved because he was so disillusioned or alienated by what ...