G'day there PAUL1405...

Yeah, I don't mind that (first flag featured in your ABC link) as our new flag, it has a certain brilliance, as well as looking fresh with that colour scheme. And is amazingly bright, representing the panache our country is renowned for Paul!

I've heard the government is looking at options to sell the ANZAC Rifle Range, with the land possibly being rezoned for housing? Somehow I think it highly unlikely Long Bay Gaol itself would be sold anytime soon. The government has ploughed too much into the place in terms of capital investment, to even contemplate closing it.

Furthermore the various stakeholders, representing the judiciary, legal profession, medical, police, even inmates families, wouldn't wish to see the place closed, until and unless a suitable facility could be found.

Yes Foxy, Gough Whitlam's achievements were huge, compare Gough's time in office with his immediate Liberal predecessor William McMahon, who although being a nice bloke, achieved nothing in almost 2 years.
Gough Whitlam is a red rag, in more ways than one, to those of the rabid right, people like Beach.

A bit more Gough and his flakey Ministry and that new flag the leftists are spruiking (they don't want to talk about the CFMEU, 'Struggle Streets and so on) would have featured a bunch of bananas, for the Banana Republic.

Both Hawke and Keating ran anti-Whitlam agendas and policies. Guess why.

It is worth remembering too that Gough Whitlam was yet another Labor PM who desperately tried and failed to rid Labor of the interference and dead hand of the faceless men, now faceless women and men, LOL.

Worst thing is that Labor is full of yes-men and yes-women who are careerist politicians in it for themselves. There is no-one in Labor who would or could ever challenge the union heavies. The CFMEU has treacherous Greens by the short and curlies too.

Dear Paul,

Unfortunately many people remember what the
Governor-General did to Gough Whitlam, rather
than what Gough Whitlam managed to achieve
during his term in office. A list of his
many achievements are listed on the web.

He wasn't perfect of course. What politician
is. But he passed many bills that were for the
good of us all. Medicare was just one for which
I shall be grateful, as well as free university
education.

cont'd ...

We do need a new flag.

Get rid of the British symbolism.

We don't need sybols that are not uniquely
Australian. That infer our subordination
to Britain Our systems of government are
completely separate from the British and our
flag should reflect that. Our national flag
should reflect the fact that we have
changed and evolved as a nation. And keeping
British Ensigns on their national flag
gives the wrong impression. It's an
anachronism.
Even the Queen agrees it should change.

Under Gough and his way-out Ministry, Jim Cairns et al, Australia went damned close to becoming a Banana Republic, with a flag with a bunch of (imported) bananas. Just ask Hawke and Keating.

One more of his major mistakes was the tsunami of taxpayers dollars that set up the victim industry, which continues to be millstone carried by by the taxpayer today. A victim industry where billions of dollars annually go into maintaining the gravy train - pyramids of bureaucrats and NGOs and consultants draining the bucket of taxpayers dollars.

Maybe a flag with a bunch of bananas and the Gravy Train chugging its way across.