Dalit human rights fighter, India, Ravi Shankar writes…
“In a rapid programme of reform it called “the program”, the Whitlam government created Australia’s national health insurance scheme, Medibank; abolished university fees; introduced state aid to independent schools and needs-based school funding; returned traditional lands in the Northern Territory to the Gurindji people; drafted (although did not enact) the first commonwealth lands right act; established diplomatic relations with China, withdrew the remaining Australian troops from Vietnam; introduced no-fault divorce laws; passed the Racial Discrimination Act; blocked moves to allow oil drilling on the Great Barrier Reef; introduced environmental protection legislation; and removed God Save the Queen as the national
anthem…”
Humanist Movement member in Australia, Scott Wilkie writes…
“In the 3 short years of their tenure Whitlam & Cairns arguably transformed Australian society & identity – sacrificing their political careers in the process.
Our current crop are doing their utmost to dismantle his legacy. The fact that many of Whitlam’s implemetations are still with us demonstrates the strength of democracy & egalitarian society in Australia, with his changes being able to largely withstand the onslaught of fundamentalist Capitalism over the subsequent 40 years…”
Edward Gough Whitlam, 11 July 1916 – 21 October 2014, was an Australian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Australia, from 1972 to 1975, and the Leader of the Labour Party from 1967 to 1977. Whitlam led Labour to power for the first time in 23 years in the 1972 election; he went on to win the 1974 election before being controversially dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Australian Prime Minister to have his commission terminated in that manner (Wikipedia).
Rest in Peace
