Gough Whitlam

[twinkles**stars]

Passed away aged 98

[gleee58]

And to both of you, Purp's husband and Tall beared (reminds me of an Iris, for which I have a particular fondness) I'm sorry for the way you guys were treated on your return by fellow Australians.  At the time I was quite happily growing up in a very conservative family, too young to vote.

[cherry*135]

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@boris1gary wrote:

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@kilroy_is_here wrote:
So much copy and paste

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so what?

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How else can you share tributes to Gough Whitlam in a thread titled  "Gough Whitlam"?

[tall_bearded01]

I think I have a very sound understanding of the Vietnam War. I’ve studied it for over 30 years and have in that time read just about everything there is read on the subject. In fact my personal library on the topic runs to well in excess of 50 volumes including quite a few English translations of text by (North) Vietnamese authors.

In a nutshell I believe that the US’s involvement was a mistake of epic proportions. For instance, there was no potential for a domino effect, because, Ho Chi Min was above all else a nationalist. That is though a communist, having run a successful guerrilla campaign against the Japanese and having booted out the French, the last thing he was going to was hand over control of his country to the Russians or Chinese.

As for Gough, it’s not a case of what he did, but what he didn’t do. Yes the movement was outside of the party and therefore outside of his control, but the party benefited from it. Terefore I believe, as a politician and potential future Prime Minister, when the extremists started targeting service members and their families, he had a clear duty to speak out, but decided it was not in his political interest to do so,

Now it’s late and the debate is becoming circular. I have put my position forward giving reasons why. So I think its time to leave it to reader to determine for themselves as to what they think

[fourandsixpants]

http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/whitlams-birth-home-to-be-demolished/ar-BBang4P?ocid=mailsig...

Whitlam's birth home to be demolished

Gough Whitlam's Melbourne birth home is up for demolition and a request to have it heritage listed was rejected.

The ALP legend, who died on Tuesday aged 98, was born in the Kew home owned by his parents. They sold it when he was aged one and the family moved to Sydney.

Boroondara City Council confirmed that a demolition order was lodged on the property in April.

Almost two weeks later it was told the same home was Mr Whitlam's birth home and had been nominated for Victorian Heritage Register.

The request was refused by the Minister for Planning Matthew Guy's office.

It says consent for demolition was granted by the council before the heritage protection request was made.

"Boroondara Council consented to demolition of this property in April 2014, before any request was made for heritage protection," the spokesperson said.

"This initial action by council has prevented further heritage protection via the planning scheme."

[lurker172602]

Goodness, could some of you have just kept quiet until he was cold at least?

[polksaladallie]

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@katydidthat wrote:
You know, I'll be quite happy to add my regrets at the passing of Malcolm Fraser.

There are some elder statesmen who have contributed much to our country, no matter what party they belonged to.

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I heard a commentator this morning saying that Fraser should be credited with retaining most of the social and legal reforms of Whitlam, in contrast to today's governments which dismantle ASAP changes whether they are good or bad.

[polksaladallie]

With the exception of a handful of posters, some of whom seem to be permanently unhappy, these tributes are indicative of the kindhearted and generous nature of CS.

[azureline**]

Agreed! and sometimes some posts are better not replied to.

To me, Gough Whitlam was my first experience of politics, I lived in Canberra and knew many people involved in it at the time. Vale Gough.

[raptor_rebooted]

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@lurker172602 wrote:

Goodness, could some of you have just kept quiet until he was cold at least?

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agree - similar comment belongs on

the joan rivers thread.

RIP Gough Whitlam

[nero_bolt]

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@tall_bearded01 wrote:

So how many do you know, 1, 5, 20, a hundred?

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sentimentality, and the overwhelming power of the Labor myth-making machine, should not blind us to the central fact of Whitlam: he was the worst prime minister in our history…

Whitlam his foreign policy record was appalling, although it is here that the myth-makers have worked hardest because his economic ­record was even worse.

Whitlam acted with conspicuous cruelty towards the Vietna­mese who had worked with Australian forces and Australian diplomats during the war between South Vietnam and North ­Vietnam.

His foreign minister, Don Willessee, wanted him to bring some of these people to Australia at the fall of Saigon in April 1975.

Whitlam told him: “I’m not having these f..king Vietnamese Balts coming into the country with their religious and political prejudices against us."…

More important than what Whitlam said was what he did. Australian transport planes left Saigon with rows of empty seats while those who had helped us there were left to their fate in the vast gulag of re-education camps the communists set up after their victory.