Fifty years today (December 2nd 1972), Gough Whitlam and the Australian Labor Party swept to power after 23 years in opposition. "Its Time" was the catch cry of Labor and the majority of Australian voters believed it certainly was time. After years of missed opportunity under Menzies and then a trio of ineffectual conservative PM's, Holt, Gorton and McMahon, Australian's voted for change. Whitlam headed our first truly reformist government since federation, 70 years earlier. The Labor reforists lasted less than 3 short years until the reactionary forces of Capitalism in Australia led by the foreigner owned Murdoch press, and others, conspired to bring down Australia's democratically elected government, along with a not fit for office Governor General in John Kerr and anti-democracy minority conservative politicians led by Malcolm Fraser the democratically elected Whitlam government was infamously sacked by Kerr, November 11th 1975.

The achievements of the Whitlam Government are many and varied, starting with Australia's withdrawal from the American war of aggression in Vietnam and the abolition of conscription, to reforms in education, heath, foreign policy etc etc. They can be read at the following link.

http://www.whitlam.org/whitlam-government-achievements

Gough Whitlam passed away October 21st 2014, aged 98.

The voters of Australia well and truly confirmed the punting of Whitlam by the G-G at the following election.

Ironically, Whitlam's successor, Fraser, turn out to be just as big a lefty as Whitlam, and the two became pally in later years.

I have to admit that, at the time, I sympathised with Whitlam; but the man was no good, and he got his just desserts before he completely wrecked the country. Let's hope we can rid ourselves of the similarly arrogant and dangerous Albanese in as short a time.

Whitlam scraped in with 9 seat majority. Not as popular as the current lefties think.

Whitlam managed to drive Australia to the left, and it has stayed pretty much that way ever since. His drubbing on 13 December - too late for his trashing of the economy - was a thank you for all his "achievements".

Three years of incompetence, chaos, and economic foolishness. All brought about by the stupidity and arrogance of Whitlam.

Dear Paul,

My husband and I were living and working overseas during
the Whitlam years. We didn't come back to OZ until the end
of 1975. However we followed his stint in government via
the American media - especially "Time" magazine which used
to do very good impressive coverage.

It was so good to read about what the Australian PM was trying
to achieve. Our American colleagues were impressed.;
Especially by the government's series of reforms ranging from
the extension of a publicly-funded health care scheme (Medibank,
now Medicare), higher education, a raft of changes in social,
Indigenous and Arts policies, and even establishing diplomatic
links with China.

His government's legacy continues to be felt today - so many
decades after it lost office. The green and yellow Medicare
card in our wallets today is there thanks to him. He introduced
Medibank the ancestor of Medicare. He also introduced needs
based school funding and the abolition of conscription,
land rights, and the list goes on. Our National Anthem was
changed from "God Save The Queen," to "Advance Australia Fair,"
April 8th 1974.

Despite spending less than 3 years in office before being
sensationally dismissed by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr,
the Whitlam government certainly enacted a series of reforms
including in free higher education.

Have you read Noel Pearson's speech?

It worth a read.

Dear Paul,

Here's the link to Pearson's eulogy:

http://smh.com.au/opinion/noel-pearsons-eulogy-for-gough-whitlam-in-full-20141105-11haece.html

Dear Paul,

Darn - I've made a typo again.

http://smh.com.au/opinion/noel-pearsons-euology-for-gough-whitlam-in-full-20141105-11haeu.html