The Whitlam Years

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The Whitlam Years

Postby redandblack » Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:22 pm

I was surprised to read what the Whitlam Government achieved in their 3 years. (reprinted from the ABC website - The Drum)

Yes, I know there were plenty of failures, too, but it was an impressive list.

PS: All Pavlovian joke responses to the Jokes thread, please :)

It was, after all, the Whitlam government (and here we are grateful to various sources) that ended conscription and withdrew Australian troops from Vietnam, implemented equal pay for women, launched an inquiry into education and funded government and non-government schools on a needs basis, established a separate ministry responsible for Aboriginal affairs, established the single department of defence, withdrew support for South Africa, granted independence to Papua-New Guinea, abolished tertiary education fees and established the Tertiary Education Assistance Scheme, increased pensions, established Medibank, established controls on foreign ownership of Australian resources, passed the Family Law Act establishing no-fault divorce, passed a series of laws banning racial and sexual discrimination, extended maternity leave and benefits for single mothers, sought to democratise the electoral system by introducing one-vote-one-value, implemented wide-ranging reforms of the Labor Party's organisation, initiated Australia's first federal legislation on human rights the environment and heritage, established the Legal Aid Office, established the National Film and Television School, launched construction of National Gallery of Australia, established the Australian Development Assistance Agency, reopened the Australian Embassy in Peking after 24 years, established the Prices Justification Tribunal, revalued the dollar, cut tariffs across the board, established the Trade Practices Commission, established the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service, established the Law Reform Commission, established the Australian Film Commission, established the Australia Council, established the Australian Heritage Commission, established the Consumer Affairs Commission, established the Technical and Further Education Commission, implemented a national employment and training program, created Telecom and Australia Post to replace the Postmaster-General's Department, devised the Order of Australia to replace the British Honours system, abolished appeals to the Privy Council, changed the national anthem to Advance Australia Fair and instituted Aboriginal land rights.

Mind you it took them three years... but we were, at the somewhat tumultuous end of Whitlam's time, a nation re-shaped.
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Re: The Whitlam Years

Postby dedja » Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:29 pm

The reason Gough is so revered in Labor circles ... the social achievements that were dwarfed by the financial debacles.
A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men
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Re: The Whitlam Years

Postby Bat Pad » Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:51 pm

Granted independence to Papua New Guinea?
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Re: The Whitlam Years

Postby redandblack » Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:54 pm

Yes.
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Re: The Whitlam Years

Postby Bat Pad » Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:57 pm

redandblack wrote:Yes.


Yeah I just looked it up, never knew that we even had any power over them. Confident I was never taught that at school, which is a pretty average. Learn something new every day.
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Re: The Whitlam Years

Postby Psyber » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:30 pm

Bat Pad wrote:Granted independence to Papua New Guinea?
Yes, it was always coming but it happened faster with the change of government here. The Whitlam government also said nothing in protest about the Indonesian military invasion of former Dutch New Guinea in the west, whose citizens had also hoped for independent nationhood or possible union with their newly independent ethnically similar neighbours in the east.
One could argue that MediBank was a bit of a dud, never fully funded, and intended to be only a short-term first step towards an NHS.
My future wife, who had also voted for Gough, found her University tutorial groups filled up with people who were not serious about study and kept taking the discussion off topic.

Nevertheless, a lot of good was done, which was why I voted for Gough again in 1974.
It was only when the financial chaos became apparent that I changed sides.
EPIGENETICS - Lamarck was right!
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