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Community => Politics and Government => Topic started by: Tolpuddle Martyr on October 21, 2014, 05:10:53 am

Title: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Tolpuddle Martyr on October 21, 2014, 05:10:53 am
Gough Whitlam, one of the greatest Prime Ministers Australia has ever had passed away today (http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/gough-whitlam-left-a-long-list-of-achievements-20141021-119cpu.html), his reign as prime Minister ended in 1975 when his government was dismissed by the Governor General in an unprecedented constitutional maneuver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough_Whitlam#Dismissal).

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 (http://www.sbs.com.au/) 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.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: dpareja on October 21, 2014, 05:16:32 am
Quote from: Tolpuddle Martyr on October 21, 2014, 05:10:53 am
Gough Whitlam, one of the greatest Prime Ministers Australia has ever had passed away today (http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/gough-whitlam-left-a-long-list-of-achievements-20141021-119cpu.html), his reign as prime Minister ended in 1975 when his government was dismissed by the Governor General in an unprecedented constitutional maneuver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough_Whitlam#Dismissal).

Unprecedented (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%E2%80%93Byng_Affair), you said? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lamb,_2nd_Viscount_Melbourne#Prime_Minister:_1834.2C_1835.E2.80.931841)
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Tolpuddle Martyr on October 21, 2014, 05:18:19 am
Wow, did not know about that.

Unprecedented in my country anyway.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: dpareja on October 21, 2014, 05:23:34 am
Quote from: Tolpuddle Martyr on October 21, 2014, 05:18:19 am
Wow, did not know about that.

Unprecedented in my country anyway.

I just edited my post to split it into two links; there was an earlier one well before Australia became a country. It's the last time a British monarch attempted to dismiss a Prime Minister and appoint a new one that could not command the confidence of the House as it sat (but unlike earlier cases, that time the appointed Prime Minister didn't win the ensuing election).
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Ultimate Paragon on October 21, 2014, 09:25:45 am
The fact that he did all that in only three years is nothing short of impressive.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: SpaceProg on October 21, 2014, 02:18:58 pm
His epitaph should read: 

Gough Whitlam


Got shit done.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: mellenORL on October 22, 2014, 12:25:37 pm
Wow. Whitlam was a true legend. That's an astounding record of progressive achievement. FDR sorta comes close, until yeah - you realize how much got done in Oz in so few years with Whitlam's guidance and involvement, though no doubt the political groundwork leading to it he toiled to lay for many years prior to becoming PM.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Lt. Fred on October 23, 2014, 01:46:03 am
Quote from: Ultimate Paragon on October 21, 2014, 09:25:45 am
The fact that he did all that in only three years is nothing short of impressive.

Newspapers took to printing front-page stories headlined "Stuff the government did today", below which you'd get a list of new legislation. And it'd be important stuff!

Whitlam also set up community radio, including my community radio station, the one I work at.

Quote
● Replaced God Save the Queen with Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem.

Well, nobody ever said he got everything right, am I right?

As a lifelong cynic, I have to point out that Whitlam was closely involved in the genocide in Timor-Leste. He signed off on Indonesia's invasion.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Art Vandelay on October 23, 2014, 01:55:35 am
Quote from: Lt. Fred on October 23, 2014, 01:46:03 am
Quote
● Replaced God Save the Queen with Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem.

Well, nobody ever said he got everything right, am I right?

Say what you will about Advance Australia Fair, but it's a far better choice than God Save the Queen.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Tolpuddle Martyr on October 23, 2014, 02:44:34 am
Quote from: Lt. Fred on October 23, 2014, 01:46:03 am
Quote from: Ultimate Paragon on October 21, 2014, 09:25:45 am
The fact that he did all that in only three years is nothing short of impressive.

Newspapers took to printing front-page stories headlined "Stuff the government did today", below which you'd get a list of new legislation. And it'd be important stuff!

Whitlam also set up community radio, including my community radio station, the one I work at.

Quote
● Replaced God Save the Queen with Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem.

Well, nobody ever said he got everything right, am I right?

As a lifelong cynic, I have to point out that Whitlam was closely involved in the genocide in Timor-Leste. He signed off on Indonesia's invasion.

That's not cynical, that just means you have eyes in your head. He know what was happening and he looked the other way.

While I'm bitterly disappointed at that, he remains the best Prime Minister we've had for the other reasons that I've outlined.

Never understood the Australian national anthem, just spent a long time as a kid wondering why we were telling the world we were "dirt by sea" when the whole time the word was "girt", not "dirt."

Not that this made much of an improvement.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Lt. Fred on October 23, 2014, 08:57:14 am
Quote from: Art Vandelay on October 23, 2014, 01:55:35 am
Quote from: Lt. Fred on October 23, 2014, 01:46:03 am
Quote
● Replaced God Save the Queen with Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem.

Well, nobody ever said he got everything right, am I right?

Say what you will about Advance Australia Fair, but it's a far better choice than God Save the Queen.

Maybe so, but it was a silly mistake.

We should replace it, by the way, with the following (and different lyrics):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1CyPjQQTAM
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: mellenORL on October 23, 2014, 09:58:44 am
Advance, Australia Fair is really lovely, I think. Why co-opt that German tune at all? Waltzing Matilda would be more poignant and better at conveying Aussie pathos and history. As would America the Beautiful for the U.S.

Most all national anthems are problematic, as they tend to be too stodgy, religious, and/or jingoistic. But, I've always liked this national hymn by Finnish composer Sibelius with Lloyd Stone's lyrics -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDXNHPeRB0k

 
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Lt. Fred on October 23, 2014, 05:41:55 pm
Quote from: mellenORL on October 23, 2014, 09:58:44 am
Advance, Australia Fair is really lovely, I think. Why co-opt that German tune at all? Waltzing Matilda would be more poignant and better at conveying Aussie pathos and history. As would America the Beautiful for the U.S. 

Can't be Waltzing Matilda. Waltzing Matilda is really great because it isn't the national anthem. You'd lose the scrappiness if it became official.

Risen from Ruins is good for three reasons

1) It's a great tune, written by a Hollywood composer
2) It has a proven track record. Can't say that about most anthems
3) Nobody is using it right now
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Art Vandelay on October 23, 2014, 06:54:23 pm
Quote from: Lt. Fred on October 23, 2014, 05:41:55 pm
Can't be Waltzing Matilda. Waltzing Matilda is really great because it isn't the national anthem. You'd lose the scrappiness if it became official.
That and it's also about a bum who steals a sheep, then when the cops show up, he kills himself rather than face the consequences. While some may argue that that much more closely reflects Australia as a whole than Advance Australia Fair, the vast majority would say it's not nearly pompous and self-aggrandising enough to be national anthem material.
Quote from: mellenORL on October 23, 2014, 09:58:44 am
Advance, Australia Fair is really lovely, I think.
I don't know. The first couple of verses that we're all familiar with are alright, but, well, let's just say there's a reason we pretend that the rest of the song doesn't exist.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Lt. Fred on October 23, 2014, 07:41:29 pm
Just make it Khe Sanh. Everyone wants it.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: RavynousHunter on October 24, 2014, 03:35:30 pm
I say make it something truly Australian.  TNT by AC/DC.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: SpaceProg on October 24, 2014, 04:08:53 pm
Make it "Land Down Under" by Men at Work.



;D
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Tolpuddle Martyr on October 24, 2014, 06:18:34 pm
Just don't do this. Abbot's slimy little Education minister did this when people were paying their respects in parliament.

(https://scontent-a-hkg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10660228_735160839906210_1892654975165994664_n.jpg?oh=93afa9c574cc4a83ed48bf77ba6c2244&oe=54B851B3)
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: SpaceProg on October 24, 2014, 09:30:29 pm
Charming...
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Lt. Fred on October 25, 2014, 02:12:43 am
Chris Pyne is probably one of our worse Federal Ministers, hard to tell. And THAT is sobering.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: RavynousHunter on October 25, 2014, 08:28:08 am
I guess there's a reason he looks like The Master...
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Askold on October 25, 2014, 08:41:17 am
Quote from: RavynousHunter on October 25, 2014, 08:28:08 am
I guess there's a reason he looks like The Master...
Which Master? Is it this one?
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Art Vandelay on October 25, 2014, 08:45:46 am
The resemblance is uncanny.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: RavynousHunter on October 25, 2014, 10:18:17 am
~Join...~ DIE! ~Join...~ DIE!
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Danarth on November 03, 2014, 02:12:39 am
So......How does he compare to the new guy?
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Lt. Fred on November 03, 2014, 05:35:27 am
Quote from: Danarth on November 03, 2014, 02:12:39 am
So......How does he compare to the new guy?

Whitlam and Abet?
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Danarth on November 03, 2014, 08:45:22 am
Quote from: Lt. Fred on November 03, 2014, 05:35:27 am
Quote from: Danarth on November 03, 2014, 02:12:39 am
So......How does he compare to the new guy?

Whitlam and Abet?

Aye...I get the impression this Abbot guy is a bit of a nutter.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Art Vandelay on November 03, 2014, 05:17:35 pm
Quote from: Danarth on November 03, 2014, 08:45:22 am
Quote from: Lt. Fred on November 03, 2014, 05:35:27 am
Quote from: Danarth on November 03, 2014, 02:12:39 am
So......How does he compare to the new guy?

Whitlam and Abet?

Aye...I get the impression this Abbot guy is a bit of a nutter.
At first, we all thought that John Howard was Australia's George Bush. Nope, turns out Abbott out-Bushes him at every opportunity.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Witchyjoshy on November 03, 2014, 05:24:39 pm
Bush has now become a measurement of terrible leadership.

This amuses me greatly.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: mellenORL on November 03, 2014, 05:49:03 pm
Abbot is more like a taste of (shudders) a President Huckabee.
Title: Re: Gough Whitlam passed away
Post by: Lt. Fred on November 05, 2014, 11:53:11 pm
Quote from: Danarth on November 03, 2014, 08:45:22 am
Quote from: Lt. Fred on November 03, 2014, 05:35:27 am
Quote from: Danarth on November 03, 2014, 02:12:39 am
So......How does he compare to the new guy?

Whitlam and Abet?

Aye...I get the impression this Abbot guy is a bit of a nutter.

He's not really. Honestly, he's a fairly normal guy, a little bit more homophobic here, a little more racial bigotry there, but mostly a normal guy. He's responding to the incentives. Our politics creates an incentive for outrageous lying. So he makes up outrageous lies.