A man of the highest political courage, our former prime minister transformed Australia and we are in his debt

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Among the many changes I lived through last year was the physicality of moving house.



The sorting of possessions, the packing and unpacking of boxes.

Whether or not you welcome it, moving house requires you to make choices about the past as you move into the future.

What of all of your bits of stuff is truly valued? What should be left behind?

For me, one choice was easy. On the wall of my study is a framed “It’s time” poster. On it Gough Whitlam most generously inscribed “To a worthy successor”. I cherish it so much.

My earliest political memory is of attending in 1975 a tub-thumping campaign rally with my father in Adelaide. Apart from the great man himself, Bob Hawke and Don Dunstan inspired the crowd.

I do not remember the content of the speeches. Attending as an early teenager, I doubt the words ever took deep root in my brain.

I do remember the atmosphere and I have a strikingly vivid recollection of the three men, standing together, arms raised above their heads, hands joined. To reach Gough’s hand, held so high, was a strain for Bob and Don.

The last time I saw Gough he was both changed and unchanged. He sat, not strode. The love of his life, Margaret, was gone. He would focus on a world unseen to me.

But then, suddenly, he would be back. Concentrating on me, engaged, the cadence of that truly magnificent voice was again in my ear.

Gough will live always in our nation, which he transformed throughout his long public life.

He is alive in our universities and the many lives he changed by giving free access to university education, my life included in that count.

Alive in Medicare and the uniquely Australian health system we now take for granted.

Alive in our suburbs and in our family law.

Alive in our relationship with China and our multicultural society.

Alive in our embrace of land rights for Indigenous Australians and our hope for a truly reconciled future.

As prime minister, I was conscious of walking in Whitlam’s footsteps as our government set about creating a companion to Medicare, the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

I felt us walking the same road together when I visited China.

On my first visit there as prime minister I met Li Zhong, the Chinese woman who translated for Gough on his history-making visit in 1973.

A petite and very sprightly woman in her 70s, Ms Li talked excitedly about how she had spent hours literally running to keep up with the big man as Gough eschewed the motorcade in favour of walking.

It is only Gough who would have had the self-confidence and sense of destiny as opposition leader to ask the Chinese premier Zhou Enlai to meet with him. This was before we knew that the US president Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger had a similar strategic vision. It was this audacity and courage in 1971 that led to that triumphant tour in 1973 to which Ms Li had a ringside seat.

I attended Gough’s 90th birthday party at Machiavelli’s in Sydney in 2006. The audacity continued with each of the cupcakes produced for dessert bearing on top in black and white icing an image of the birthday boy.

But I suspect his most important birthday cake was the one sent by Zhou two days after their meeting.

On my second visit to China as prime minister, when I sealed an agreement with the new Chinese leadership to have annual leaders-level meetings and strategic and economic dialogues, I was delighted to see it generously reported as the biggest breakthrough in the relationship since Whitlam’s. Such huge footsteps to proudly follow.

Gough is alive in today’s Labor party, too. We celebrate his government’s triumphs and never forget the hard lessons learned from the mistakes.

Every Labor leader and every prime minister who has followed him has wrestled with his legacy. Gough Whitlam transformed so much about Australia and the prime ministership.

After Gough, the prime ministership would always be “not a permission to preside but a command to perform”. Because of what he did between 1972 and 1975, our leaders will always be judged on whether we drive for major change, not how deftly we manage “more of the same”.

I remember Gough as one of the great Australian characters. His wit literally filling books.

I honour Gough as a man of the highest political courage. A giant of his era. He was truly prepared to “commit and see what happens”. He transformed Australia and we are in his debt.

I reflect on someone who was a great leader and a great person.

Gone, grieved for, but never to be forgotten. A legacy to be celebrated.