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Airdate: Whitlam: The Power and the Passion

ABC1 will air a two part documentary series, looking back on Labor's first Prime Minister in 23 years.

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6whitABC1 will air a two part documentary series, Whitlam: The Power and the Passion, looking back on Labor’s first Prime Minister in 23 years.

The interview subjects are a who’s who of Aussie names including Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, John Howard, Bill Hayden, Barry Jones, Bob Carr, Mungo McCallum, Max Gillies, Phillip Adams, Andrew Denton, George Negus and more (no word on Garry McDonald).

Narrated by Judy Davis, this is written and directed by Paul Clarke with Mark Hamlyn and Penny Robins as Executive Producers.

Gough Whitlam didn’t rise to the top to become Prime Minister; he had to fight to get there. His only free ride came on the winds of social change that woke up conservative Australia and helped deliver the Australian Labor Party (ALP) victory in 1972.

Tough Irish Catholic working class stock dominated Labor and the hardliners were Whitlam’s opponents along with the conservatives. They resented his difference, distrusted his Protestant background, and saw him as a silvertail. And Whitlam was young and fresh in comparison: educated, witty, intellectual, brimming with ideas and committed to serving all Australians.

Whitlam didn’t win his first election as Leader of the ALP in 1969 but he came close. By 1972, his persona and policies were hitting a chord with rebellious baby boomers who were railing against sexism and racism, and demanding peace not war, especially in Vietnam. Women and migrants also liked their suburban neighbours Gough and Margaret. At the campaign launch, TV stars, rock singers and comedians pushed the “It’s Time” jingle into every Australian lounge room and Whitlam gave Labor its first Prime Minister in 23 years.

He exercised his power at breakneck speed, appointing his own government advisor on women’s affairs (a world first), introducing a Racial Discrimination Act and investing in motorways, childcare centres, housing for low-income families and other infrastructure.

He spoke of breaking the reliance on Britain and America, and of Australia becoming more independent. He bought Jackson Pollock’s $1.4 million Blue Poles for the new National Gallery of Australia and loved the ensuing controversy.

But one year in, after an initial rise in popularity, cracks appeared when the actions of an Arab coalition started a worldwide economic meltdown. Whitlam had assumed Australia’s economy was bulletproof but inflation and unemployment rose steeply. Ignoring advice, he pushed through one of his most prominent – and expensive – reforms: free university education for all. The domestic economy deteriorated further.

Unable to get key legislation through the Senate, Whitlam called another election and won a second term in 1974. Then followed some of the most enduring reforms including Medibank, the forerunner of Medicare, and the Family Law Act establishing no-fault divorce. But economic turbulence coupled with scandals within the government also marked this period.

In 1975 the Opposition voted in a strong leader in Malcolm Fraser. Blocking supply this time sparked dramatic events unprecedented in Australian history: the Governor-General Sir John Kerr sacked Whitlam and appointed Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister. It was game over.

Begins 7:30pm Sunday May 26 ABC1.

10 Responses

  2. I was only a kid when it all went down so didn’t really take any interest in politics. Only read bits and pieces about it since but always wondered how they got away with sacking a PM, and then put the Libs in, shouldn’t they have put another Labor person in. Be interested to watch this and see what when on behind the scenes. Definitely wouldn’t want Bolt making it, with all his bias. I certainly hope we never have to go 23 years under a Liberal govt again. Was bad enough having Howard for 11 bloody years.

  5. Why are they calling it The Power and the Passion? Midnight Oil didn’t form until three years after Gough was dismissed. Perhaps they could have called it Living In the ’70s but I think that’s been done a few too many times already. I remember that when Gough was in power the song for his government used by the media – especially when things like the Loans Affair and the Gair Affair started – was Leslie Gore’s It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To.

  6. @Carringbush Would you rather someone like Bolt doing this where there would be cries of Political Correctness and Communism. And if you think it’s going to be a lefty love in, what’s John Howard doing interviews for, explain that then?

  8. Off course it will be left-leaning, it’s on the ABC. After years in the wilderness, the Whitlam government tried to do too much too soon and like the Gillard government will be in September, was flogged at the election.

  10. The governor-general dismissal of Whitlam predated my coming to this country,and was something I was unaware of til I got here.Intuitively,I would have thought such an act,would have provoked howls of protests and a huge backlash against Fraser,and all things monarchical.I certainly would have been wrong,seeing that Fraser thumped Whitlam at the next election…aided, in part, I’ve learned by Murdoch and his newspapers.I’m still puzzled by how and why Australians reacted the way they did to this,and will be watching..hoping this program sheds some insight into this,and how Australians feel about it nowadays,with years of hindsight afforded them.

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