How Did Gough Whitlam Change Australia

Australia’s entrustment to the UN, was told to stop its support for South Africa and obtain a position in support of Third World policies in the UN, Whitlam had made contact with the Government of the Chinese Republic, ending contravene and warfare between China and Australia. Whitlam was able to begin a personal understanding with the Chinese Prime Minister Chou En Lai during his first year of office. For Australia this was a first that an Australian Prime Minister was able to develop a close bond between the leaders of China. Diplomatic trade relation had been created with the

Australian industries such as steel-making and pharmaceuticals suddenly found themselves filling roles that were previously done by German rivals. Australian government was keen to make sure that Australian wheat, wool and meat reached Britain and helped the war effort there. The government was keen to make sure that the Australian wheat wool and meat industries made it over to britain to help out with the war efforts. So a law was made giving it the power to acquire the whole wheat and wool harvests which had seen to be an impossible action under the Constitution, but were then allowed to be done because of the new law. However, shortages at war and selling scarce goods at a very high price meant that many ordinary working people suffered because of a rise in price and a massive drop in their standard of living. After the war 400 new products were being sold that previously had been needed to import from enemy countries. This meant that there was a major fall in the major cities. At the end of the war the Commonwealth had numerous

Australia became a commonwealth of the British Empire in 1901. It was able to take advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop its agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. Now, Australia has a prosperous Western-style capitalist economy, with a per capita GDP at the level of the four dominant West European economies. Rich in natural resources, Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, minerals, metals, and fossil fuels.

"Gough Whitlam has been a towering figure in the Australian Labor Party for longer than I can remember. For more than six decades in politics, Gough Whitlam has aimed at targets higher than personal success or vindication. His energy and enthusiasm combined with the continuing powerful relevance of his goals have made him a hero to many Australians & an iconic figure in Australia's political landscape.” (Excerpt of speech by Senator John Faulkner at Gough Whitlam’s 92nd Birthday, 2008) (Source 3)

In this referendum, 54.87% of the population voted in the negative to Australia becoming a republic. The result obtained through this nationwide ballot show that the overwhelming majority of Australian’s have chosen to not become a republic when presented the opportunity. Additionally, they contest that the current system of governance has effectively worked since the days of conception to now. So a system which has been functional and a major source of stability for over 116 years, doesn’t require any restructuring or overhaul. Another argument held by the right wing conservatives is that in being constitutional monarchy under the monarch of Great Britain we have gained many advantages such as important relations with the UK and other Commonwealth countries, these relations have allowed us to become the functional, strong and independent country we are today. Another argument held by the monarchists is that the cost of changing to a republic would be astronomically high. The previous expenses spent to run the 1999 referendums which was $87.5 million as well as the estimated costs of changing references to the monarchy in government stationary, letter-headers, logos, etc are estimated to go into the billions of dollars. Expenditure of this magnitude is currently not viable considering the

Australia 's prime minister had changed from John Curtin to Francis Forde to Ben Chifley. He realised that Australia needed a long term plan so that the people of Australia could protect and defend themselves from potential attacks. World War 2 ended in about 1945 and communists (people who wanted everyone to be equal) started popping up in Australia. Australia was under heaps of stress due to war and other issues and they needed to populate or perish.

In the duration of the 20th century after WWII, in which two significant events occurred which were the fall of Singapore to the Japanese army and the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese- the fear and the threat towards the system of communism started to emerge and expand throughout Australia. As these events occurred they also encouraged the Australian government to really think more closely about issues of national security in the post war environment. Also in order to protect Australia from future attacks or wars, Prime Minister Robert Menzies set out to ally Australia more closely with the United States. In the decades after WWII, a fear of the growing influence of communism in Asia also meant that Australian governments were willing to send troops to conflicts in Asia. As

The cause of Labour Party Split was entirely from an internal conflict between key leaders of the Australian Labour Party. The Labour Party at the time were not chosen into government, but yet the Liberal Party was, who were being lead by Robert Menzies the Prime Minister of Australia at the time. The party split into two separate parties, one being the Australian Labour Party who was Anti-Communist and one being the Democratic Labour Party. The split of the Labor Party had long-term consequences on Australian politics. One of these key long-term consequences was that the Democratic Labour Party instructed their supporters to give their crucial votes to the Liberal Party therefore not allowing any chances for the Australian Labour Party to win the government seat. Santamaria who was the leader of the Democratic Labour Party proposed to keep the Labour Party from winning until they came to a conclusion and accepted his terms. In Arthur Calwell’s autobiography published in 1972 recounts his recollection of the Labour Party split in 1955. Calwell states “I have witnessed three disastrous splits in the Australian Labor Party during the past fifty-six years.” He then goes on to say that “the third in 1955 over alleged communist infiltration of the trade union movement. The last was the worst of the three, because the party has not yet healed the wounds that resulted from it.” This statement from Arthur Calwell shows us the ways in that Australian politics changed due to communism and to the extent in which the split had severely affected and impacted both parties, as they have not healed their wounds from the incident. It is through the Labor party split that we can assess the impact communism had on Australian politics from 1945 -

After the build-up of tension and the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, World War 1 began on the 4th August 1914 between the Central Powers, led by Germany, and the Allies, led by Britain. When Britain, in order to defend Belgium, declared war on Germany on the 4th August, Australian Prime Minster Joseph Cook also declared war on Germany. In commemorations which honour the Australians who fought in the war, there should not only be a focus on the events of Gallipoli, but also on the Western Front and the significance of Australia’s involvement in World War 1. Australia had strong ties with Britain and automatically became involved in the war to support Britain. Not surprisingly, many Australians rushed to enlist, for various reasons.

His contribution to Australia's federation was him being the prime minister of Australia for ten months and 17 days. George Reid Was born on 18th August with Scottish descent but ended up in Australian politicians. He died on the 12th of September 1918. George Reid supported and helped every single part of Australian federation. Australian federation was helped when he said he's famous yes no speech at sydney town hall on the date of 28th of march 1898.

The Labor Government have had a major impact on the Australian Economy, which has made it quite difficult for the Coalition to inherit. Joe Hockey stated that “Sixteen years of deficits without a recession, without any significant

Edmund Barton was the first prime minister of Australia he was elected May 9th 1901 in Melbourne the Exhibition Building. He was a smart man but also a

In Pearson’s speech, the criticism of John Howard, who was at the time the Prime Minister, throughout the speech

In 1960, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Gough Whitlam, was calling for independence to be granted by 1970. These calls went unnoticed, and showed what a lack of interest Australian’s had in PNG. Whitlam repeated his call in 1965, this time it was noticed, with a poll showing 30 percent of Australians favouring rapid independence and 49 percent favouring delay. PNG independence was no longer seen as impossible, except by Charles Barnes, who in April 1968 estimated that independence was still twenty to thirty years off. Whitlam started to promoting change in PNG. Rather than keeping the issue out of the public debate and wasting another three years before Australians could be brought to face realities Whitlam placed Papua New Guinea on the political agenda with a widely-publicised tour of the territory in January 1970. The Australian government was already starting to have doubts about PNG. Events in the territory were demonstrating the difficulties involved in its governing. Gough Whitlam's visit to Papua New Guinea was a catalyst for change. Whitlam's public statements during the tour simply restated his previous intentions for early independence, with the date now set for 1976. Whitlam talked to Papua New Guinea's indigenous leaders. Once self-government had become a serious issue, constitutional development became a largely discussed topic in the Territory's political circles. Prime Minister Gorton made a trip to

Free Education was deemed a necessity as there are a lot of families who are on benefits and it enabled all young people to be successful learners, confident and learn to be responsible. It also opened opportunities for young people and children to be successful through life. The legislation that brought this into effect was the Education Act 1944 and the current legislations for schools are Education Act 1980, Education Act 2002, and Education Act 2016. However there are current issues as there is arise in young people refusing to attend school due to bullying, emotional needs, peer pressure and there is a lack of qualified teachers.