Gough Whitlam
Gough Whitlam

Did Gough Whitlam impact Australians lives when he implemented policies? Did he contribute to the post war development? At the time he was prime minister, writes Richard Holt.
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam came to power at the end of 1972. He’s main objective I believe was to make Australia well known. Whitlam had already reformed the Labor Party's policy platform prior to coming to power. While he was prime minister he introduced many policies to do with problems Australia was facing. He introduced free university education and ended conscription.
Edward Gough Whitlam was born in Melbourne in 1916. After graduating from Sydney University he served as a navigator in the Air Force during the Second World War. Whitlam entered federal parliament in 1952 by winning the seat. He kept this seat for 23 years, through several elections. He finally became a Leader of the Opposition in 1967. Whitlam was Campaigning the slogan “It’s time” and successfully became Prime minister in December 1972.
The Whitlam was serious about passing legislation and in 1973 203 bills became laws.
Some of these include the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth), which established the means to review the decisions of government ministers and officials;
The Trade Practices Act 1974), which made sure consumers were protected against faulty products and misleading and deciptive conduct by sellers or manufacturers. It also made restrictive trade practices illegal and set down the law against copyright infringement;
The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 which made racial discrimination illegal in Australia. This law covers discrimination in areas such as employment, buying or renting property, accessing public places and the provision of goods and services.
The Prices Justification Act 1973 which established a Tribunal to monitor the prices of goods and services supplied to consumers.
Whitlam's success as a reformer also came with a consequence. Prime minister gough Whitlam didn’t realise he spending a lot of money and if this continued he would have been going into an economic crisis which would mean that parliament would find it hard to recover. As a result of over expenditure inflation rates had already begun rising before Whitlam came into government. By 1975 inflation had jumped to 17 % in comparison to 7 % in 1972. Unemployment also increased. Foreign investment in Australia declined as many overseas interests disliked the idea of the policies and the Whitlam government’s inability to control wage price rises On 11 November 1975, the Governor-General dismissed Whitlam as Prime Minister and appointed Malcolm Fraser as a caretaker Prime Minister.

Whitlam had remained vulnerable throughout 1975. After a series of resignations in 1975. Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser announced that the Senate would accept all appropriations bills until Whitlam called another election. Whitlam refused, and this confrontation was followed by several weeks of constitutional crisis.
Kerr, by now governor-general, took an active interest in the crisis and became convinced of the need to dismiss Whitlam from office