Gough Whitlam, one of the greatest Prime Ministers Australia has ever had
passed away today, his reign as prime Minister ended in 1975 when his government was
dismissed by the Governor General in an unprecedented constitutional maneuver.
Here's a brief list of his achievements.
● Got Australia out of the Vietnam War and abolished conscription.
● Formally recognized China.
● Established Medibank, the precursor to Medicare and Australia's current universal healthcare system.
● Initiated a supporting mother's benefit and welfare payments for the homeless people.
● Equal pay for women
● Instituted the Australian Law Reform Commission.
● Abolished the death penalty for Commonwealth offences
● Simplified the Family Law Act providing for a national Family Court was enacted, introduced non-punitive divorce laws.
● Established needs-based funding for schools
● Instituted free university education, stripped by later governments but never return to the bastion of the very rich elite it once was.
● Reduced the voting age to 18.
● Replaced God Save the Queen with Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem.
● Passed the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 which conferred rights to equality before the law and bound the Commonwealth and the states to the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
● Set up a Department of Aboriginal Affairs
● First Commonwealth government to grant land rights to indigenous Australians
● Established the National Gallery of Australia, the Australia Council for the Arts, and the Australian Heritage Commission.
● Introduced FM radio, and helped 2JJ who's mission was to support Australian music, got a lot of Aussie musicians started.
● Set up the first multicultural radio stations 2EA in Sydney and 3EA in Melbourne, the precursors to
SBS and issued licences to community radio stations for the first time.
● Instituted the Australian Film and Television School which helped start the modern Australian film industry
● Granted national independence to former territory Papua New Guinea
A true statesman and one of my personal heroes, he'll be sadly missed.