Oh Gough.
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What a day you gave me yesterday.
Tears to begin with, for the uncle who’s birthday date was called up for Vietnam conscription (which your timely election changed), for the aunt who then had the chance to go to university and became our first family member to make it to that level (possible thanks to Gough’s free university decree) and for the handful of sand in Vincent Lingiari’s hand (in the famous words of songwriter Paul Kelly).
But as the day rolled on, the teary eyes quickly changed to laughs, for the sense of humour, for the grand vision, for the deep flaws and blind spots, for the sense of history, the politics, the scope of change and the sheer huge decisions the man and our country faced during his time as Prime Minister.
The outpouring on social media was immense and tributes rolled throughout the day.
I couldn’t help but note too the amount of younger Australians who commented – young Australians who never felt Gough as their Prime Minister, who never knew the slogan “It’s time”.
Why such an outpouring – and from people who I believe would never have responded in such a way to any other politician?
I couldn’t help but think of the difference we viewed this man - a prime minister – compared to how we view our current political leaders.
I read the words of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Michael Pascoe and they resonated.
“I think it's partly because of the invidious comparison with what our nation has become,” he wrote.
“The optimism, the positivity, the change, the opening up, the justice, the independence, the betterment of the nation, the internationalisation that Whitlam sought and represented has been replaced after four decades with a more general negativity, with so little ambition, with a conservative determination to uphold the status quo or even return to some earlier imagination of it, with white-bread nationalism resplendent.” Pascoe concluded.
These words resonate still.
We mourn the characters, the larger then life, the dare to dream people, the change the mindset people.
The kind of people who held out a hand to Red China - and changed a country’s global view.
I hope many young Australians - no matter what their political inclinations, views, etc - take heart from Gough’s big reforms and dare to have a go in their life.
Sometimes his ideas were right, sometimes they were brilliantly wrong, but you cannot argue with his grandness of scope.
Here’s my favourite quote from yesterday, from a twitter parody account of God.
“Gough Whitlam is up here and already has presented Me with a number of suggestions for reform.”
Of course.
janine.finlayson@fairfaxmedia.com.au