Senate debates

Monday, 27 October 2014

Condolences

Whitlam, the Hon. Edward Gough, AO, QC

2:10 pm

Photo of Ian MacdonaldIan Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to say a few words about a giant of a man in Australia's history and relate my own very small personal interaction with the great man. I want to start by saying that I endorse the very fine and precise words of the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Honourable Senator Abetz, in his wonderful and statesman-like address at the beginning of this condolence debate. I extend to Mr Whitlam's family and also to Senator Faulkner my condolences. It was Senator Faulkner who spoke very movingly about a couple whom I know he was very proud of, and who, I suspect, both in his mind and in the minds of Gough and Margaret, was part of that political family.

I am one of the few in this chamber who actually lived as an adult through the times of the Whitlam prime ministership. It was a colourful time. There was never a dull moment. The media absolutely loved him for the papers he sold. I remember being a newly admitted solicitor buying into my legal practice and trying to save for a new home, and struggling, as with many others, as interest rates skyrocketed. I well remember that many businesses failed at the time. I remember that the common talk in my home town at the time was how to emigrate to New Zealand—talk that, in at least one case I know of, actually materialised.

Gough Whitlam is certainly Australia's most recognised citizen across the last half century—even more so, I might concede, than Sir Robert Menzies, who I call the father of modern Australia. Menzies, however, is not so well known to people born since his passing. I was never a fan of Gough Whitlam, nor of the ABC's absolute fixation with the dismissal. I always remembered that the Australian people gave their verdict on the Whitlam government and the dismissal, at the election following that event.

So I was somewhat taken aback at the funeral of the late Sir Jim Killen—a personal friend of mine and one of Australia's politicians who I greatly admired. I was taken aback when I found that the running sheet at Killen's funeral showed that Gough Whitlam was to do the eulogy. Killen, during his parliamentary career, had been vociferously anti-Labor and a great, entertaining and very vocal critic of Labor administrations, including the Whitlam administration. But Gough gave a wonderful eulogy that highlighted the very close friendship and association he had formed with Jim Killen over recent decades. Both had the same quick wit and eloquence, and it became clear during the eulogy how much both men had in common and how much feeling they each had for the other. Gough gave a very warm and typically eloquent speech that completely changed my mind about him. I came to understand how he had touched so many people with his compassion, his intellect and his wit. In his wonderful tribute to Killen, he showed himself to be a very caring, open and forgiving man. I was delighted to have had this minor personal association with him in the latter years of his life.

In the parliamentary condolence motion on Killen, I did have cause to mention my admiration for Whitlam for the eulogy he had given. To my surprise, a few days after that I received a very warm, personal, handwritten note from Whitlam thanking me and sending me a copy of his eulogy. He indicated that he had been listening to the parliamentary broadcast and had heard my contribution. I remember at the time thinking how extraordinary it was that someone with Gough Whitlam's background, experience and stature during his active life would still, in his retirement, listen to broadcasts of parliament and would take the time to honour me with a personal note.

Whilst I and many others on my side of politics will always attribute to Whitlam some of the worst government decisions in Australia's history, I have now joined the very large and significant band of Australians who see him as a wonderfully warm, clever, articulate, friendly and caring person—and one who will never be forgotten. In that capacity I mourn his passing. Rest in peace, a great Australian.

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