Edward Gough Whitlam Gough Whitlam was the 26th prime minister, born in Melbourne on the 11th of July 1916, the son of a solicitor who became a leading public servant; his background was abnormal for a Labor man. He joined the party in 1945 as he joined the APL in Sydney. In those days, many of the leading Labor personalities were Irish Catholics from working class background. Whitlam, an intellectual from an intellectual family, had never needed to sweat for his salary in the dust and heat.
Whitlam was prime minister of Australia From 1972 till 1975, as he was Pushed aside from being prime minister, by the Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the peak of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis; he is the only Prime Minister to have his commission ended in that manner. In 1972, Whitlam withdrew troops from Vietnam. Whitlam’s government during the post war period was able to establish diplomatic relations with communist countries such as North Korea and North Vietnam. His government was the first western government to recognise communist China and started trade.
This is because Whitlam and the Labour Party believed they should try hard to work with their Asian neighbours rather than confront them. He established new Commonwealth organisations to deal with Aboriginal and Environmental issues. He ended conscription in the Vietnam War and provided free tertiary level education (University). The organisations were the Law Reform Commission, Aboriginal Land Rights Commission, Social Welfare Commissions and an agency for concerning Women’s Affairs.
He overlooked the passing of a Commonwealth Bill or legislation, called the “family law act of 1975”, which led to the creation of the family court. He set up the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Australian Heritage commission. He also passed down much other legislation that includes: 1. The “Prices Justification Act of 1973, commonwealth”, which established a committee to overlook the prices of goods and services sold to consumers. 2. The “Racial Discrimination Act of 1975, commonwealth”, which made it illegal to racial discriminate others.
The law concerning racial decimation had jurisdiction in the areas of employment, accessing public places, the ability to purchase a good or service from a place, renting property and etc. 3. The “Trade Practices Act of 1974, commonwealth”, created copyright infringements, made restrictive trade practices illegal and made sure that consumers were protected from faulty products and misleading conducts by the seller or manufacturer. 4. The “Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act of 1975, commonwealth”, was created so that it provided the ability to reflect the decisions made by government ministers.
He also came up with the National Pipeline Authority to review the planning and construction of a natural gas pipeline system for the nation. Also he implemented the Health Issuance Act of 1973, commonwealth legislature, to create a national and uniform health scheme referred to Medibank. This legislature offered free public hospital treatment and a significant proportion of the cost for medical service paid by the government. I did this essay on Gough Whitlam not because it was the easiest but because I honestly think he was the best prime minister of Australia, on what I’ve read!
