Tanya plibersek gough whitlam biography

With Parliament suspended as a mark of respect for Gough Whitlam, representatives from all sides of politics share their stories of the 21st prime minister of Australia.

"I daresay that most of us who met him have a Whitlam story.

"I introduced myself to him one day in at an event at Sydney University. 'I've heard of you,' he said. 'You're some kind of a Liberal.'

"'I'm actually supposed to be DLP,' was my response. 'DLP,' he boomed. 'That's even worse.'"

"I've listened to many over the years from the Labor Party say that they were inspired to become involved in politics because of Gough Whitlam. But it was true also of people on this side.

"Many on this side were inspired to get involved in politics for the opposite reason: they thought it was necessary to stand up against some of the things that he stood for.

"He didn't have a lot of support, it has to be said, in the regions. Farmers were pr

Australia’s history of women and political rights is, to put it mildly, chequered. It enfranchised (white) women very early, in And it was the first country to give them the vote combined with the right to stand for parliament.

But it took 41 years for women to enter federal parliament. The first two women federal MPs, Dorothy Tangney and Enid Lyons, were just memorialised with a joint statue in the parliamentary triangle. It was unveiled this month – finally redressing the glaring absence of women in our statues.

Review: Women and Whitlam: Revisiting the Revolution - Michelle Arrow (ed.), (NewSouth)

Australia’s record of women’s rights is still uneven. We pioneered aspects of women’s welfare, such as the maternity allowance that included unmarried mothers. But now, Australian women’s economic status is shameful.

As Minister for the Environment Tanya Plibersek notes in her foreword, Australia has plunged from the modest high point of 15th on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap index. In , it was 43rd.

Read more: 'A policy aesthete': a new biography of Tanya Plibersek shows how governments work – and affect people's lives

What Whitlam did for women

Federation was an exciting time for women. But the next peak didn’t arrive until the s, when the Whitlam Government proved a beachhead for women’s rights. Feminism helped to swell the tide of change carrying Gough Whitlam to power in

But just how did Whitlam conceive his agenda for women? What were his short-lived government’s many achievements in this area? Until now, these questions haven’t been fully studied.

Women and Whitlam is important not just for taking on this task, but for its stellar cast of essayists. Many of them were feminist activists in the s, and their memories add rich narrative detail.

The book is edited by Michelle Arrow, a Whitlam Institute Research Fellow and an authority on women, gender and sexuality in the s: not least through her prize-winning monograph, T

The upper house on Wednesday backed a Labor motion to acknowledge the Whitlam government's significant contribution to Australia and "inspiring and transforming" the nation.

The government didn't oppose the move which also called for the release of correspondence between Sir John and the Queen over the dismissal.

On November 11, , Australia&#x;s Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, used his power as the Queen&#x;s representative to dismiss the Whitlam government.

That afternoon, David Smith, the Official Secretary to Sir Kerr, read out the proclamation of the dissolution of Parliament, and he did it on the steps of what we now call Old Parliament House. 

Gough Whitlam stood next to him; a crowd of supporters shout his name, and what followed were the words from a defiant man. On reflection they are perhaps the most famous words ever uttered in modern Australian political history: 

"Well, may we say God Save the Queen because nothing will save the Governor-General," Gough Whitlam said.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Gough Whitlam&#x;s sacking remains raw for Labor, even years later. His faithful see it as an inappropriate and abrupt end to the prime ministerial career of one of their greatest leaders.

Almost every time I was with Gough someone would stop him on the street and say things like, &#x;Thank you, Mr Whitlam. I went to university because of you," Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek said.

Ms Plibersek became a close friend of Gough and Margaret Whitlam, despite the fact Mr Whitlam voted against her when she sought pre-selection for the seat of Sydney in the '90s.

Margaret did vote for me, so I always think it&#x;s a little bit funny that the only split we know of in the Whitlam household is the split over my pre-selection, Ms Plibersek

Building on the Legacy of the Women’s Movement and the Whitlam Government

On 25 November , women who were at the vanguard of the women’s movement in Australia, emerging women leaders and the public packed old parliament house in Canberra. This gathering enriched the record of the achievements of the Whitlam Government relating to the status of women with insight from many of those who drove the progress, and highlighted the ways in which strategic activism can result in durable and substantial change. Lessons that can be drawn from the period were explored in how the legacy can be furthered today.

Seminar Opening              
Welcome to Country from Violet Sheriden
Leanne Smith, Director of the Whitlam Institute
The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Member for Sydney

The Beginnings: Advocacy for Early decisions of the Whitlam Government
Susan Ryan AO

Session 1: Women & Political influence: Policy, the Media & Equal Pay
Introduction: Dr Elizabeth Reid AO FASSA FAIIA and Gillian Appleton
Session chair: Donelle Wheeler
Discussion Panel: Emeritus Prof Marian Sawer MA PhD AO FASSA, Iola Mathews OAM and Sara Dowse

Session 2: Women and the Law
Introduction: The Hon Elizabeth Evatt AC
Session Chair: Dr Gail Radford
Discussion Panel: Dr Helen Watchirs OAM, Prof Kim Rubenstein FAAL FASSA and the Hon Penny Wensley AC FAIIA

Session 3: Social Policy, Women in the Regions & the Impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women
Introduction: Marie Coleman AO PSM DUniv
Session Chair: Prof Meredith Edwards AM
Discussion Panel: Teela Reid, Wendy McCarthy AO and the Hon Margaret Reynolds

Session 4: Education
Introduction: Lyndsay Connors AO
Session Chair: Julia Ryan
Discussion Panel: Dorothy Hoddinott AO (apologies), Jozefa Sobski AM and Cathy McGowan AO

Session 5: Conclusion: Response from Today’s Women Advocates
Session Chair: Susan Ryan AO
Discus