Why Gough Whitlam was my hero

I sincerely thank you for the opportunity to pay tribute and say thanks for the life of the greatest ever Australian Gough Whitlam.

Gough was true to the working people of Australia.

Our family moved into this area in 1971 when we moved to Camden. The street that we built our house in did not even have street lights. The new areas of Camden had no sewerage connected. The overflow of the septic tanks running down the gutters was to say the least very unpleasant along with being quite unhealthy.

Health services were almost non-existent. The only hospital between Wollongong and Penrith was a very small under resourced Camden Hospital.

Gough saw the need for the Federal Government to play a roll in improving the living conditions for people in the outer suburbs. The Federal Government, who collected the taxes and passed them on with grants to the States should have a say in how these funds were to be invested to improve the living standards of all Australians.

This was the first time a Federal Government became involved with local Councils by providing them with funds.

We were a young family with a very sick baby who was admitted to the Children’s Hospital at Camperdown where he stayed for many weeks. We were very pleased when Gough committed his Government to build a first class state of the art Children’s hospital in Western Sydney. We could not fault the treatment provided to our child at Camperdown Children’s Hospital, it was a very old hospital with primitive accommodation for the mothers of the sick children. Sick children need their mothers to be with them as part of the treatment and Camperdown was a long way from Camden.

Now, thanks to the reforms of the Whitlam Government, Western Sydney has first class medical facilities.

Sick people no longer need worry about how they are going to afford treatment for their illness, that prior to our national health scheme introduced by the Whitlam Government was a real concern for working people.

Thanks to the reforms of the Whitlam Government we now have a Medical system that ranks amongst the world’s best.

The first action taken by the Government was to end conscription for nineteen year old men to be sent to war in Vietnam. The Government brought the troops home. This paved the way for the American withdrawal and ended the war.

Gough was the first Australian Prime Minister to recognise the disadvantage suffered by the Indigenous Australians. In fact Gough was the first Prime Minister to change the lives of all Australians for the better, making it possible for people with ability to receive a university education regardless of the financial circumstances of their parent.

He introduced no fault divorce to enable people in broken relationships to separate without needing to provide the courts with reasons. He provided support for single and deserted women trying to raise a family.

The list of achievements that were done in three short years is almost unbelievable, yet he managed to get these changes whilst working with a hostile opposition who believed they had the right to rule.

These measures had to be passed through the most obstructionist Senate in Australia’s history.

History will record his efforts and mark him as Australia’s greatest son.

He was and always will be my hero.

It is remarkable that he was the first leader of a western country to visit China where he is still fondly remembered and regarded forty years on. How important to Australia is that relationship today.

I thank you Gough for all that you did to make Australia the great country it is today.

Rest in Peace with your beautiful wife the love of your life, Margaret.

John McLaughlin – Macquarie Links NSW