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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
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Condolence

Whitlam, Hon. E.G.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (11:01): By leave, I move:

That the House of Assembly expresses its deep regret at the death of the Hon. Edward Gough Whitlam AC, QC, former member of the House of Representatives and prime minister of Australia, and places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious service to the nation, and that as a mark of respect to his memory the sitting of the house be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

Gough Whitlam, by any measure, was an outstanding prime minister. My recollection of Gough Whitlam and his government is limited, given my tender age. The overwhelming first memory was of actually being in a classroom when the teacher announced to the class that the prime minister had been sacked. Of course, this caused an immediate outbreak of conflict within the classroom.

I can remember the sons and daughters of obviously Liberal supporters were mocking him, calling him 'Egghead Whitlam' because of his name E.G. Whitlam—not highbrow humour; nevertheless, it was a mark of, I think, some of the conflict that children had actually bought into the divisions that were occurring within society at that time. There were very strong feelings.

I had a sense of injustice. I probably did not quite know why at the time, but there was a great sense of injustice that my team had been peremptorily dismissed—that was my first recollection. A second recollection was listening to the radio and hearing the chants in the campaign that followed of 'We want Gough! We want Gough!'

It was a very passionate but divided time in the life of the nation, but I think many have observed that that should not be the enduring memory of such a great prime minister because so much in a positive way was achieved for our nation and so much of it endures today. I think no truer words were spoken than those spoken by another former prime minister Paul Keating when he said there was 'before Whitlam and after Whitlam' and that really the history of our nation can be effectively divided into those two epochs.

Of course, there was a larger than life quality to his public persona that matched his height, his booming voice, his towering intellect, his encyclopedic knowledge and his quick and devastating wit that many said placed him above mere mortals. His signature style, I think, was really captured in the title to this book, A Certain Grandeur. There was a certain grandeur about the prime minister Gough Whitlam. This, of course, was his speechwriter, Graham Freudenberg, who wrote a glowing tribute to him. I do not know how many of us will have our speechwriters writing glowing tributes to us at the end of our careers.

My only personal interaction with Gough Whitlam was when I asked him to sign his book, The Whitlam Government, that he proudly paraded as a very complete record of the Whitlam government. If you read this book—and it is a task, because it is very detailed and meticulously compiled—it tells you something of his care. I think, without being critical, that he was a very pedantic man in respect of every single detail.

I will give you one anecdote of how pedantic he was. I asked him to sign this book, which he signed in the front: 'Jay Weatherill, with all good wishes, Gough Whitlam.' As I was leaving, he said, 'Can you come back here?'

The Hon. J.R. Rau: 'Comrade'.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: 'Comrade'. What he did was, he grabbed the book and he flicked through the pages and he put a comma in that was missing on one page and he put an 'and' in that was missing on another. Then on the back he put a little number—it was 530. He kept in his head the number of personalised copies that he had. This is the 530th personalised copy of The Whitlam Government, and it is a treasured memento.

Mr Picton: He is not related to the Speaker, is he?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Yes, that's right. Some of these traits have actually passed down the generations to other great Labor figures. I refer now to the honourable Speaker of our house. That was certainly a trait that he had. If you were to listen to one of his speeches on a pet topic, such as the—

The Hon. J.R. Rau: Rail gauge.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —rail gauge, he would never cease to take an opportunity to reinforce his position that there should be one standardised—

The SPEAKER: Meat inspection: a commonwealth or state responsibility?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right. Yes, meat inspection or any number of his pet concerns. You would expect to be going to hear this magnificent speech from Gough, because we are just so in awe of his wit, and then you got this rather long and rather dry exegesis in some pretty inane area of public policy. In a sense what that showed to you was that he never ceased to be anything other than committed to the project of high-quality public policy and he advanced it on every available opportunity. There was a seriousness about the way in which he pursued public policy which I think nobody—his supporters nor his detractors—could deny him.

His substance, however, was based not only on a vision for this country that would make us the most advanced nation in the Southern Hemisphere but a detailed and rigorous range of policies covering every major portfolio of government that he had personally researched and written in the 20 years preceding his election as prime minister in 1972. It was a prodigious body of work, which renovated the whole of public policy and the thinking of the Labor Party, and of course he presented that to the nation.

He was born in July 1916, the first child of Martha and Fred Whitlam, into a home filled with books and encyclopedias, where the emphasis was always on education, knowledge and development of their children's individual talents. From his early teenage years, Gough's development marched hand in hand with the development of the new capital of Canberra, where his father was crown solicitor. As he grew into maturity, so did Canberra. He witnessed how a federal government, through centralised planning, would construct the best possible urban environment for all its citizens.

A belief in equal opportunity meant that every new suburb was supplied with a school, sporting facilities, roads and underground sewerage. Long walks with his father were wonderful opportunities for him to explain to his son how good government could directly improve the lives of its citizens. His mother's pride in him instilled a firm belief that he would grow up to be a force for good in the world, and a deep desire to help those who were less fortunate.

Young Gough was fiercely proud of being an Australian, a feeling he was later to inspire in a nation still bound with a cultural cringe towards its British forebears. A poem written by him for his school magazine expresses his excitement for living in a country so full of new and powerful possibilities. He wrote:

We have the verdant vista of the New;

New skies to scale, new paths to pioneer.

He spent the rest of his life doing all he could to communicate to us the endless new possibilities awaiting our nation if only we were bold enough to grasp them. For me, that was his extraordinary contribution: the way in which he opened up the possibilities for each of us to express ourselves, to be more than we were, and for our nation to be more than it was. This incredibly expansive vision of possibility, the world being a world of possibilities, and that problems were not things that would conquer us, but just opportunities to apply our minds creatively to find new solutions and new ways forward for ourselves and our nation.

Boldness was the mark of this man, but it was never boldness for the sake of it. His crash or crash through approach to reform, particularly of the ALP, was because he knew it was essential if we were to ever break free from the decades of opposition. As leader of the South Australian branch of the Australian Labor Party, I want to thank him and pass on the gratitude of our party for the way in which he modernised the Labor Party in partnership with another great moderniser of his time, the Hon. Don Dunstan, and allowed us to be the successful party which now presents itself for government consistently in this nation.

He knew he had to seize the day and when his time came to enact the laws that would forever change our lives—laws that focused on a universal national health system; state aid to all schools on the basis of need; free university education; land rights for Aboriginal people; the removal of all forms of discrimination regarding race, religion and gender; the beginning of no-fault divorce; and the beginning of environmental protection, just to name a few—he did not dither around.

After years of what has been described as the Menzies torpor, it is no wonder that many Australians were in deep shock. It is only now when he is gone and we look back at his legacy with awe and realise the depth and breadth of what he achieved in such a short time, that we can understand how profound his contribution to this nation has been. What motivated him always was a burning desire for every Australian to have an equal opportunity to develop their skills regardless of where they were born, where they went to school, which country they came from, or whether they were male or female. He wanted all of us to have all the opportunities that he had enjoyed. What were once only the rights of the well-off and the entitled, Gough wanted to make available to every single Australian.

He lived for 98 years and his passion for Australia was only matched by his passion for his dear wife, Margaret, the woman with whom he shared his life for 70 years, the woman he described as his best appointment, his prima donna, his equal in all things and the love of his life. He may have written and passed the laws that changed the nation, but she made it possible for him to do so. Through every major political change, every election campaign, every triumph and every loss, they were always together side by side and it is impossible to think of one without the other.

Long after he left the Lodge, their mere arrival at Opera in the Domain in Sydney caused thousands of people seated on the lawns to spontaneously stand up and cheer them. These two extraordinary people led the Australian nation into an exciting and turbulent new era and their legacy lasted long beyond it.

How do we explain the public outpouring of grief and celebration of all that he contributed that followed the news of his passing? In an age of increasing cynicism, mistrust and disengagement regarding politics, the political process and our political leaders, the response to his death is proof that we need our own heroes. We need to remind ourselves that there was a time when we did believe in politics and political leaders like Gough.

We thank him for the generosity of his vision. We thank him for the excitement and the humour that he engendered. We thank him for the strength of his belief in us and his country, and its people of all ages, races and religions. We thank him for making us proud of our country, proud of our culture and proud of our individuality. He projected this pride—this self-belief—on the international stage, and we thank him for his inspiration; his inspiration to allow us to choose opportunity over privilege, progress over tradition and, most of all, hope over despair.

Gough never lost his belief in the political process as a means of achieving it. He inspired a generation of young people to involve themselves in politics. He made the pursuit of public service something magnificent—a worthy purpose in life.

Our thoughts are with his children, Antony, Nicholas, Stephen and Catherine, who will all miss him as a loving father, and his sister, Freda, who knew him the longest of anyone. We will all miss him, but he will leave an indelible mark on our party and on our nation. Vale Gough Whitlam.

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (11:16): I rise to second the Premier's condolence motion. One week has passed since the passing of Australia's 21st prime minister, Edward Gough Whitlam AC, QC. I think it is fair to say that the tributes to Gough in the last week have been overwhelming. All sides of politics have reflected on a man who, apart from his policy legacy, is universally remembered as a brilliant politician with remarkable talents of oration, debate and, most importantly, one of the most spectacular wits of our time. In his tribute to Gough the Prime Minister commented:

Nineteen seventy two was his time, and all subsequent times have been shaped by his time. His government ended conscription, recognised China, introduced Medibank, abolished university fees, decolonised Papua New Guinea, transformed our approach to Indigenous policy and expanded the role of the Commonwealth, particularly in the field of social services. These were highly contentious at the time; some of these measures are still contentious; but, one way or another, our country has never been quite the same. Members of his government displayed the usual human foibles, but, support it or oppose it, there was a largeness of purpose to all his government attempted—even if its reach far exceeded its grasp, as the 1975 election result showed. He may not have been our greatest Prime Minister, but he was certainly one of the greatest personalities that our country has ever produced. And no Prime Minister has been more mythologised.

History is open to interpretation and can sometimes be a reflection of the author. However, Gough Whitlam will be remembered as much for his personality as his policy. Members of parliament will come and go through our Westminster system representing all sides of the political divide. What is important to note on this day of condolence is the motivation and purpose that brings all of us here to serve.

Gough Whitlam's brush with fate came at the end of his first tour of duty as a flight lieutenant with the No. 13 Squadron in the Royal Australian Air Force. When flying bombers in the Northern Territory he also began distributing literature for the Australian Labor Party to promote a referendum in 1944 which would help to extend the powers of the commonwealth post war. Defeat of this referendum dashed all his hopes at the time but would be the motivation that drove him into politics and delivered him to Canberra. A referendum was the trigger, and a brush with the Westminster system, that changed the course of his political life, and ours, forever.

Persistence and determination helped him overcome minor political setbacks, and in 1952 he became the member for Werriwa. My peers in this place can all relate to the individual honour that we feel when introduced as a local member for our respective electorates and the responsibility we have to serve the people who entrust us with their hopes for a better state and for a better country. It is these qualities that we have in common, regardless of political persuasion, that encourage us to be adversaries of policy and politics.

As a product of World War II, Gough Whitlam was trained to be combative. Already committed to serving his country in wartime, he was to continue that service in another capacity by representing the people of Werriwa for over 20 years. An articulate and intelligent man, his entry into parliament was driven by a determination to modernise and reform the Labor Party after 23 years in the wilderness, a legacy from another giant in politics, the founder of our party, Sir Robert Menzies.

Set with an agenda to revitalise Australia at the same time, Gough Whitlam and his government ended conscription and released draft dodgers from prison. He created an international pathway that led directly to communist China well ahead of other world leaders, while in 1973 becoming the first Australian prime minister to visit.

Ever the reformist, he also left his footprint on the electoral system by lowering the voting age to 18, out of respect for all the young men who were conscripted, and pushed for women's rights through equal pay, single mothers' benefits and no-fault divorce.

If the speeches of the past week are of any measure, there is no shortage of anecdotes to be told about a man who dedicated his life to his country. It is fitting that Gough Whitlam's story is entwined with the legacy of our diggers, as every year on 11 November Australia will reflect on that infamous day in 1975. I read with interest the comments from Rome of our former premier of South Australia, the Hon. Mike Rann, who, of course, was a good friend of Mr Whitlam. He said:

But Whitlam was much more important than any individual policy or achievement. Many people serve their country; Gough Whitlam changed ours. He lifted our individual horizons as people and made Australia more confident and more independent as a nation.

He was a Colossus, a big man in every sense who helped all of us and our country walk taller.

I would also like to reflect on the comments made in federal parliament in recent days by the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull, in his tribute to Gough. He stated:

We recognise that all prime ministers capture the attention of the Australian people. Not all prime ministers capture their imagination, and even fewer capture their imagination and retain it for so long. Gough Whitlam was able to do that because of his presence and his eloquence but, above all, because of that generosity of vision. He was an enhancer, an enlarger.

Edward Gough Whitlam is survived by his four children, and I take this opportunity to pay my respects to his family. On 21 October 2014, a massive figure of Australian politics passed away aged 98. Gough Whitlam, vale.

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (11:22): I will be reasonably brief in my contribution because I know that other members wish to say things about this great man.

Gough Whitlam, as everyone knows, was a great reformer of the Labor Party, and he undertook tasks which those of us who have studied the Byzantine history of the Labor Party will appreciate were herculean tasks to change the party from the inside and make it a different organism than it previously was. I have some passing knowledge of the extent of that task and of the people and characters involved in it; it is recorded in many books in part, although perhaps not entirely accurately, but now is probably not the time to go into it in detail.

I had the privilege of actually knowing Gough Whitlam. I had an association with Gough and his family through relatives of mine. I really had the privilege of seeing him on and off pretty well for most of my life until the last few years. He was, as everyone has remarked, and will continue to remark, a remarkable individual—a man of great wit and a man of great intellect. I thought I would give you a couple of very brief anecdotes because I have had a little bit to do with him.

In 1992, I was preselected for the then highly marginal federal seat of Hindmarsh as a result of a very unsatisfactory redistribution. For the next year, I spent time campaigning for that contest which occurred ultimately in March 1993. That was a very good election for the Labor Party in every place around Australia except for South Australia, unfortunately. In the course of the preparation for that election, I did ask Gough whether he would come over and do a fundraiser for me, which he did agree to do.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: At the Grand.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: No, the Hellenic Club in Sturt Street. I recall being quite nervous about this event. There were some hundreds of people there and I was expected to make a speech in front of these people, which I found an extremely intimidating proposition. I was waiting at the top of the stairs for the great man to arrive.

He did arrive. He came up to me, shook my hand and said to me—and I am not going to do the often-repeated impersonations—'Hello, comrade, how are you?' I said, 'Good, thank you.' He said, 'How old are you now, comrade?' I said, 'Thirty-three.' He said, 'Well, do you realise that by the time he was your age Alexander had conquered the world and Jesus had saved it? What have you done?' I had to reply, 'Well, not very much.' He then turned, saw Andrew Collett holding his young son and said, 'Ah, a baby—I must kiss him,' and walked over.

That was the style of the man. He was a really great personality, a great figure. That evening, incidentally, he gave a speech which, fortunately from my point of view, did spend quite a bit of time going into the nuances of rail gauges and international covenants, which meant that my speech appeared to be, by comparison, almost interesting. That was probably something he did out of some generosity to me as a young aspiring candidate.

The other thing I would like to put on the record is that the great initiative of free university education was something that definitely changed my life. Were it not for that, I am absolutely positive that I would not have been in a position where my family could have afforded to send me to university and pay fees, although I may or may not have been able to secure a scholarship: we will never know. What I do know is that, by the time I came to go to university, the fact that my parents were of modest means did not make any difference.

I was amongst an increasingly large, at that time, cohort of people who were coming out of the public education sector into the tertiary university sector probably for the first time in any real numbers. That has had an enormous levelling effect, and it has caused, I think, a very constructive churn in the group of people who are passing through the universities. I personally would like to express my thanks for that opportunity which I may well not have had but for his efforts.

Gough Whitlam inspired a generation of Australians and, as everyone has remarked, has changed the place entirely. Also, from the position of Australia as a place in the world, before Whitlam and, to be fair, John Gorton as well, Australia was a place that was a little Britain or a little United States and we really did not have an international profile of our own. We were the lap-dogs out there, really. It started with John Gorton, but certainly after Whitlam's time the idea of Australia having an independent foreign policy, albeit one aligned with the Western alliance—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: No, I'm talking about the way Australians saw themselves. Unfortunately, the member for Dunstan may not remember how angry Australians were when, for instance, the mother country joined the EU and we could not sell apples from Tasmania to Britain any more. This is the time space we are talking about. My grandparents told me about that.

I just wanted to say that Australia owes a great debt to this man. All of us in my generation certainly owe him a great debt, particularly those of us who had the opportunity of taking advantage of a university education, and I extend my condolences to his children and family.

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (11:29): With the passing of Gough Whitlam, I acknowledge the contribution of both Mr Whitlam and Margaret Whitlam to public life and service in the federal parliament. Whilst he achieved high office of Prime Minister of Australia, and his contribution in government was and remains controversial, he remained active in academic and public affairs, the development of public policy and the like.

Tempted as I am, given the Deputy Premier's contribution, to talk about the Hindmarsh election in which he was a candidate, I will say that much has been said about Mr Whitlam's political endeavours, some praising and some pillorying. I have my view. Most members in this house have a view of that political period, and I will leave it for others to consider and reflect on that. My view is not positive, so I adopt my mother's abiding principle: on matters on which you have no positive contribution to make then do not say anything at all.

Today I do wish to recognise another side of Gough Whitlam, and that is to reflect upon his wisdom and wit. Can I start with his contribution to the Australian conversation and debate in respect of the severance of Her Majesty and her heirs and successors, as was proposed, as our head of state—the great Australian referendum and debate on Australia to become a republic in the 1990s. I mention this period because Mr Whitlam was active in public policy. He was a strong contributor to this debate. In respect of the affirmative of the proposal for a republic, it was led by none other than the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull, now a member of the Abbott government, and a very successful contributor in that government.

I found myself on the side of Mr Whitlam, so I simply recount to this house his visit to South Australia during that conversation and the establishment of a roundtable conference—perhaps one of the earliest of summits, as we now have them fairly commonly—in which South Australians were invited to participate. I found myself on a table of 10 with Mr Whitlam, Mr Wayne Goss (a former Labor premier from Queensland) and other luminaries in the academic, legal and political world.

Some might find it hard to believe, but my contribution was not significant at this conference. In fact, I pay tribute to Mr Whitlam's contribution, not only for the general debate but in the summit in South Australia, and that round table was a great learning experience. Whilst I was and remain a great supporter of Australia becoming a republic, following the principle of Her Majesty that 'if you love her, let her go', he did make an outstanding contribution to South Australia's contribution to that debate, exercised our minds and really did stimulate that debate considerably. He was a passionate debater and he provided wise counsel. Whilst the referendum in the affirmative ultimately failed, I will remember that period and thank him for his contribution to the debate.

As to his wit, many have referred to his part in the passage of the Family Law Act in 1975, which ultimately came into effect on 1 January 1976, to abolish the Matrimonial Causes Act, and that had repercussions around Australia. Perhaps the most controversial aspect at the time was the removal of the grounds of adultery, desertion, cruelty and the like as bases upon which a divorce could be granted. It transferred to 12 months' separation identifying an irretrievable breakdown of the relationship as the basis upon which a dissolution of marriage could be granted.

It was controversial, but he remained active in that space. It was not a perfect piece of legislation. It did require and has required significant amendment, but the concept of starting the dissolution of the partnership in a manner without accusatory evidence from one party to another as to their conduct or behaviour I think did usher in a significant advance in that area of the law. Mr Whitlam remained a significant contributor to the amendment of that legislation. I can recall in the 1980s that he attended a national conference here in Adelaide and addressed the gathering. In this regard, he did retain a sense of humour. Of course, he always made passionate speeches about this important area of reform and was committed to it, but he opened the convention dinner with the address, 'Mr President, judges, dignitaries and happy couples'. He was never far from being able to identify the social impact of whatever legislation he was involved in. I cannot now remember the rest of the speech but I will always remember that, and I thank him for his contribution in that regard. Now I have a confession to make, about my first meeting with Mr Whitlam.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

Ms CHAPMAN: No; fortunately, unlike the interjections I am hearing, I was far too young to vote at this time. I was a young teenager at the time of the world premiere screening of the film Sunday Too Far Away here in South Australia. It was a great film. I was the handbag for my father, the Hon. Ted Chapman, on that occasion, and the embarrassing aspect of the night was that I was sitting between my father and the Hon. Jack Wright—who both had a history in shearing, both knew about the fifties' strike, both knew everything about what was happening on this film—when they burst into laughter while the rest of the thousand or so audience remained silent. I was, of course, a typical teenager, wanting to shrink with embarrassment at what one's parents do.

However, my great opportunity that night was to meet Jack Thompson, the star of the film. As some members would remember, he had been a centrefold in Cleo by this stage.

Members interjecting:

Ms CHAPMAN: That was very controversial at the time; the whole magazine was controversial, actually. He also lived with two sisters, which was very risqué then—I am not sure they were twins, but they were definitely sisters—and that opportunity of his got the blood of most males in Australia very excited.

My great opportunity that night was to meet Mr Thompson, and it was going to be magnificent. We were in the Railway Station (this is pre Casino days). Everyone was there in their long dresses and gloves, the usual array of elegance, and in comes Mr Thompson—overshadowed, on this occasion, by the presence of the then prime minister. In came Mr and Mrs Whitlam. She was by far the tallest woman I had ever seen; both of them were a foot taller than anyone else in the room. Their presence was incredible, and it reminds us of the importance of when prime ministers, or indeed premiers, take those positions. They take those positions to represent the whole country or state respectively. We were all in awe of this couple, who came on that very special occasion.

Of course, undaunted, I still wanted to meet Mr Thompson, and I have to say that I was not particularly interested in any chitchat with the prime minister but more in meeting Mr Thompson. If members have seen the film they will remember that he was the swashbuckling shearer hero of the film and of the strike, and when he arrived at this very grand occasion he had long hair, his shirt open to the navel, with the big bouffant sleeves (purple, I think it was) in satin. It was suitably tacky, when we reflect on it. Nevertheless, he was there. I simply cannot repeat what Mr Wright and Mr Chapman said on this occasion. It would be totally politically incorrect in this day and age, and is unrepeatable. Nevertheless, I was in awe of meeting the great Mr Thompson and, I have to say, at the entrance of Mr Whitlam, which really did impress all those present.

With that confession, I can say that it was a very interesting era in public life for Mr Whitlam, but he did make an outstanding contribution in a number of areas of public policy and debate, and I thank him for that. I also acknowledge, on his passing, his late wife, Margaret Whitlam, and her outstanding contribution in representing women in public life. Vale.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (11:39): I will be very brief, sir, because I know the Treasurer is very keen to make a contribution to the debate. Can I just quickly talk about the enormous effect that Gough Whitlam made on the Labor Party in terms of making the Labor Party ready for government in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Basically, from the death of Ben Chifley the party was pretty much unfit for government. It was dominated by those, particularly in the Victorian branch, who were more committed to what they perceived as being ideological purity than making constructive policies which would place the party in a fit state to make it electable and take government. Whitlam took on these people, famously telling a Victorian state conference, to many boos, that he did not aspire to be the leader of Australia's largest pressure group.

Gough Whitlam was instrumental, along with Clyde Cameron, in the intervention by the national party into the Victorian branch to basically reform that branch so as to put the party in a position where we would be electable. He also played a key role in opposing the expulsion of my late friend Senator Brian Harradine from the party. When the national executive made the decision to expel Brian from the party, Gough famously referred to the national executive as '12 witless men'. He played a very important role in reversing the party's opposition to state aid for Catholic schools. There were many Catholic schools in predominantly working-class areas that were not, under Labor Party policy, able to receive state aid, and Whitlam played a key role in overturning that sectarian policy, for want of better words.

On a personal note, when Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin, the national government responded in sorting out the evacuation of Darwin, which, of course, in 1974 was far more remote than it is today in terms of communications and the ability to get lots of people there and to quickly move large numbers of people out. My mother and father-in-law and my wife were in Darwin in Cyclone Tracy and they had to be evacuated, and came down to Adelaide. I remember my father-in-law was always enormously grateful for what the Whitlam government did for the victims of what was then and may still be Australia's greatest ever natural disaster. The smooth evacuation of people from Darwin was something that they were certainly very grateful for.

I might just finish off with one quick story. Many people in the parliament may know personally, or may know of, the Hon. Johno Johnson, formerly president of the Legislative Council in New South Wales—a great man. Johno has spent most of his time fundraising for the Australian Labor Party, generally through selling raffle tickets, but when he was not fundraising for the Labor Party he was fundraising for the Catholic Church. Johno had been given a job by the archbishop at the time of raising money to restore St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. Johno knew that, while he was not a Catholic, Gough certainly had enormous respect and admiration for the beauty and heritage value of St Mary's Cathedral and that he might take up some official part in the campaign to raise money for it.

So, Johno rang Gough and spoke to him about it, and they discussed the matter. In the course of the conversation Johno and Gough talked about the fact that there was a crypt in St Mary's Cathedral where deceased archbishops of Sydney are buried. Gough hinted, or suggested, that in exchange for his having a part in this fundraising campaign perhaps Johno could subtly suggest to the archbishop that it would be an appropriate thing for Gough Whitlam to be buried in the crypt of St Mary's Cathedral. Johno said to Gough, 'Look, this is only for deceased archbishops of Sydney; you're not even Catholic let alone an archbishop. I don't really think that's going to go very far.' Gough's reply was (in my best Gough voice), 'Don't worry, comrade, I'll only need it for three days.'

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (11:44): The reason my father is Labor is because of Mr Whitlam. He is held in high reverence within the Greek community in South Australia because he was the first Australian leader to actively pursue not only their votes but also their culture, and for that I am eternally grateful to the great man.

There are many stories about Mr Whitlam that we could talk about today, about his prime ministership, about policy reforms that he made. I want to talk about what he has done for the Australian Labor Party. When the Labor government was elected in 1972, they had lost previously nine elections in a row. We had become accustomed to losing and, quite frankly, a lot of the party enjoyed that: there was comfort in lost, there was no responsibility, we could remain pure. The party spent a lot of time bickering amongst themselves, at national and state conferences, about things that just did not matter, and the public knew it.

What Gough Whitlam did was bring about a level of professionalism to the Australian Labor Party. He has many legacies—free education, no-fault divorce, the way he changed Australia's foreign engagement, his engagement with minorities and, of course, he gave us multiculturalism—but what he has given all of us as a party is a desire and a burning ambition to always win.

Why did he want us to win? Because, as he famously said at that Victorian conference, 'only the impotent are pure', and we can only aspire to work for those working people who put their faith and trust in us from government, and that is his greatest legacy to me: the burning ambition to always defeat our opponents, to push anyone who is in our way out of the way to get the right outcomes for the people of South Australia and the people of this country, because the Labor Party exists to win.

We exist to win to deliver for the people whom we represent, whether it be free education, health care, adequate law and order, decent roads or a fairer tax system. Whatever it might, it is always about delivering for those who put their faith and trust in us, and that is what Whitlam's legacy is to me. It is many things to many people.

When I was elected in 1997, I think the former prime minister rang a number of backbenchers who had been successful in that campaign, and I was lucky enough to receive a phone call from him. He rang me, and my trainee at the time said, 'There's a Mr Whitlam on the phone,' and I thought it was either you, Jack Snelling, or Michael Brown. So I answered the phone and said, 'Gidday, prime minister,' and the undisguisable, booming voice of our former prime minister came through the phone, and I felt this urge to stand up—I do not know why.

We had a long conversation. He said that the party had done a remarkable job after such a crushing defeat four years earlier, that it had done such a remarkable job coming back, that it was always important that Labor wins at every election, and that we do what we can to try to implement our programs. I said to him, 'Prime minister, what advice would you give a young backbencher?' He said, 'What you probably want to hear is that only the impotent are pure, but what you really should be doing is winning, because you can't implement your programs from opposition.' Like the health minister said, we are not a pressure group, we are a political force and a political movement, and it is our responsibility to do all we can to protect those who put their trust in us.

He changed the way we thought about politics, he changed the way we thought about our country, he changed the way we thought about our migrants. I am a child of that generation, I am a child of that migrant movement, and we have so much respect for Gough Whitlam. It is fair to say that in my household, my household is split. My mother was a committed Liberal up until I joined the Labor Party.

The Hon. J.J. Snelling: More a royalist than a Liberal.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: More a royalist than a Liberal, mainly because communist rebels executed her godfather in front of her when she was a little girl. But my father is a committed Labor voter. When Gough's passing was announced, I saw a little bit of a tear in my mother's eye, which surprised me. She confessed to me later that she had voted for him not in 1972 and not in 1974 but that she had voted for him in 1975. I thought, 'Why did you do that?' I did not understand. She said, 'I didn't like him, but he was trying to change things and the people that he was trying to change got rid of him unfairly.' I thought, 'That's another aspect that will always remind me of the importance of the Labor Party always being in a winning position so that democratic values are always espoused.'

So, Mr Speaker, my deepest condolences to the family, but like prime minister Keating and prime minister Hawke said, this is not a time to mourn, it is a time to celebrate his life, and I thank him for his contribution.

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (11:49): I doubt it is a coincidence that the celebration of Gough's life will be held on Guy Fawkes Day, because perhaps there is no more fitting day to remember how parliament changed forever, particularly in Australia. Just as the member for Bragg has made a confession this morning, I want to confess that I was a Gough groupie. Swept up in the promise of redemption from the years of the political wilderness of opposition, as an almost 20 year old I found myself in Canberra, surrounded by the euphoria of the 'It's Time' campaign. So, it is no surprise, I guess, to any of you here that, even though I was not as much into politics as I am now, I was covered in badges and all sorts of goodies—T-shirts, you name it, I had it. But I found, on the particular day where Billy McMahon was walking through the mall, I had not a single thing on me and waved furiously at him, to which he waved back and said, 'Thank you, dear', which of course was not why I was waving at all.

Many others have spoken this morning on Gough's amazing contribution to parliament. In particular, I would like to mention his reforms in the area that affected Aboriginal Australians—that iconic picture with Vincent Lingiari and the sands being handed back—and of course in health reform. On Remembrance Day in 1975, I found myself working in the cash payment centre of Medibank on Grenfell Street, which was perhaps the busiest office, I thought, in Australia at the time, in the days when a visit to the doctor was $5.75 and the refund was $4.85. It is a long story and a lot has happened since then. That, of course, was the day I actually joined the Labor Party, or the day after, at the mammoth rally that was held in Victoria Square.

Like the member for Bragg, when I first met Gough and Margaret, they were enormous people, particularly to me, standing a step below them. I remember it was at the Norwood Town Hall, though I do not remember the exact occasion, but we were certainly there for Don Dunstan, who was more at my eye level but stood beside Gough and Margaret in much the same way: they were giants and he was a giant as well.

I had many close encounters with Gough. He has signed more books than I care to remember. He and Margaret were both really kind on many occasions by supplying things for fundraising. Just like the Treasurer, I had a phone call from Gough, but no-one passed on the message. In fact, the person in my office who took the phone call is lucky that they are still breathing, because he had rung to tell me how much he appreciated his copy of my icons calendar, in which Gough is very much the star as Mr July. If anyone wants a copy of that calendar, I still have some.

It would be fair to say his wit, as we all have noted this morning, is legendary and will remain so forever, not only in his lifetime but for many years to come. Both he and Margaret have been giants in my life. On behalf of the people of Florey and the Florey electorate office staff, I send my condolences to his family.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (11:52): I know there are many other people who wish to speak, so I will be very brief. There are two things I would like to mention about Gough. Firstly, I will mention his very longstanding marriage to Margaret. I am always in admiration of people who can remain married for a very long period of time, and I think—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: I just think it takes a lot of work to maintain a marriage, and to have been prime minister in such a tumultuous time, to have been such a figure in so many people's lives over such a long period of time and still maintain that marriage over that time is an achievement in itself. Obviously, that is not just him but Margaret as well, so I think that should be remarked upon, especially with her recent passing.

Secondly, I am fortunate to have two degrees, and my father was the first person in his family to have a degree, which he did at Flinders University. We came from a poor family, and that would not have been possible without those reforms. That time at university has shaped me and I have used it throughout my career. It just would not have been an option open to me without that reform, so very briefly I would like to thank him for that and the government at the time. Even though things had changed by the time I got to university and we accrued a debt, it was still accessible and it just would not have happened without that. I offer my condolences to the family and will obviously remember that for a very long period of time.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for the Public Sector) (11:54): I would like to pay tribute to Gough Whitlam. I am a little younger than the Premier and so my memory of him contemporaneously and his government was that my parents were upset at the sacking and I had very little understanding of why, but it did shape me in some way. Politically, in that sense, I am more a child of the Hawke/Keating government, having been a teenager then, and yet, on reflection, we are all the political children of Gough Whitlam. He represents a point of modernity for our country, which was the magic gate that we went through and from which we have been altered for evermore.

As a personality, he was the very opposite of a measurer and a straightener. He was an enlarger, as was referred to earlier, and a reviver of our party as well as of our country. The cultural change he made to Australia was extraordinary: the embracing of migration, the rights for Indigenous people, the rights for women. The social infrastructure that many have referred to was similarly extraordinary. Universal health care, which then took the Hawke/Keating government's longevity to embed truly in Australian culture but, nonetheless, the introduction of universal health care; the universal accessibility of higher education, as has been referred to; the embracing of the protection of the environment; the family law reforms; tackling cities as an important social matter; these have all shaped who we are and will do so evermore.

One area that has not been discussed so much is economic reform and that is because it is a difficult topic in relation to the Whitlam government. We know that there are reasons why he was referred to as a crash through or crash government and that ultimately the Australian people did not return him in 1975. What he did do during that period was start to tackle the tariff walls that had kept the Australian economy in a state of complacency and false comfort. The fact that he had the courage to do that and that it was subsequently followed up, particularly by the Hawke/Keating government reforms, has left us in the strong position that enabled us to go through the global financial crisis and that has made us a more efficient economy, but it was done—both under Whitlam and later Hawke/Keating—in a way that respected that you had to have an industry policy, that you had to work with industry to help them manage those changes and not simply say, 'We have no role to play here.' I think that is something we have benefited from and that we could currently learn from.

Ultimately, he was a man who represented pride in Australia, with an enormous sense of humour, and who has made us a country that regards itself as independent and one that we can be proud of. I thank him most sincerely for that and I pass on my deep condolences to his family.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (11:57): I rise briefly to also offer my condolences to the family and to point out that when we go doorknocking, when we ring constituents and they say, 'Which party are you?' and you say, 'The Labor Party,' still so many people say that they vote Labor and they have always voted Labor because of something Gough Whitlam did when he was the prime minister of Australia or that he promised to do in that 1972 campaign when he offered so much change for Australia.

One woman in particular in Woodcroft, who I doorknocked probably five or six years ago, said that she remembered doing the ironing when Gough Whitlam came on the television and said that he would end the lottery of death, the compulsory conscription for (I think) people who were turning 20 to go to Vietnam. She had a son who was only a month away from turning 20. They used to pull marbles out of a barrel and the date that came up, everyone who was born on that date had to go and do active duty. So, that was a real change for so many people in Australia, but it was just one example. Others have mentioned the free university education which gave people, for the first time ever, for generation after generation, the chance to get a tertiary qualification, which was a great thing for all Australians.

I met Mr Whitlam a few times. I remember that in 2006 he was at the Mick Young race day at Randwick. It was not long after the state election here and he knew all about Nick Xenophon and what he had done to get two members into the upper house. So, he showed a keen interest in politics, not just at the federal level but at the state and territory level as well. I think we were lucky in that period in the seventies, during the Whitlam government, that we had strong representation with Mick Young as the member for Port Adelaide, who was also a keen member of the machinery of the federal Labor Party, but also Don Dunstan as premier. I know that the Whitlams were here for the opening of the Adelaide Festival Centre and also for the opening of the ABC building. It was a time when a lot of things changed in South Australia, with a lot of thanks to both Don Dunstan and Gough Whitlam.

The Premier pointed out, I guess, the pedantic nature of Mr Whitlam and his attention to detail. I remember asking him to sign a book for my son, Conor, at one stage, and he said, 'Is it with two n's or one?' I said, 'It is just with one n,' and he said, 'Yes, the traditional way. In the 1890s some Irish decided to get trendy and put two n's in it, but one n is the correct spelling.' It did not matter what you put to Mr Whitlam, he seemed to be an expert on nearly everything. A huge intellect, a huge reformer and someone who will go down in history as one of the great Australian leaders of this nation.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.

Sitting suspended from 12:02 to 12:12.

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