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GOUGH WHITLAM 98 TOMORROW!

A fortnight ago the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Rupert
Murdoch had once directed his editors to kill Whitlam.
Notwithstanding, I am delighted to report that Edward Gough
Whitlam is very much alive.

Tomorrow, 11 July, marks Goughs 98
th
birthday, a time to celebrate
his longevity, his resilience and his extraordinary contribution to this
nation.

At 98 Gough will be amongst the oldest living former heads of
government in the world. He is the third oldest in a group of political
leaders born during the early years of the First World War , surpassed
in age only by the Netherlands Piet de Jong and Jamaicas Howard
Cooke.

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Gough is little more than a year younger than Piet de Jong. De Jong,
like Whitlam, served his nation in war and led his country as Prime
Minister afterwards. De Jong was a distinguished naval officer,
representative of the Catholic Peoples Party and Prime Minister of
the Netherlands from April 1967 to July 1971.

Gough is only months younger than Sir Howard Cooke. Cooke was
president of the Jamaican Union of Teachers, a minister in Michael
Manleys Government 1972-80, and served as Jamaicas Governor
General 1991-2006.

De Jong, Cooke, and Whitlam each served their countries at a time of
rapid economic and social change, as a post war generation demanded
greater social freedoms, and the certainties of the old economic order
began to unravel.

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The stories of these leaders converge when we consider the role each
has played in public life after their political careers. Cooke was a
Governor General, De Jong a respected business leader and
statesman.

In honour of Goughs endurance, I want to tonight acknowledge his
continuing contribution to Australia after politics through his writing
and commentary, his service in diplomatic posts, statutory authorities
and community organisations.

After politics, Gough served as Visiting Fellow at the Australian
National University. In the Department of Political and Social
Change, with characteristic foresight, he focused on Australias role
in the Pacific and Asia.

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Visiting professorships at Harvard and the University of Adelaide
followed his work concentrating on the roles of China and Australia
in the Pacific, on constitutional change and electoral reform.

In 1983 he was appointed as Australias Ambassador to UNESCO.
Gough served on the Independent Commission on International
Humanitarian Issues and the World Heritage Committee. In 1989 he
chaired the General Assembly of the World Heritage Convention.

Whitlams ambassadorship came at a time when some questioned the
integrity and importance of UNESCO. Margaret Thatchers Britain,
and Ronald Reagans United States, threatened to withdraw from
UNESCO. Reagans threat became a reality. In December 1983 the
United States withdrew, in Goughs words; taking its bat and ball
and going home. In 1984 Thatcher packed up the UKs kit bag too.

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At the time Whitlam was not blind to the institutions flaws but
argued passionately for Australias ongoing commitment to
international cooperation:
The world of UNESCO is the world we live in. We in Australia
cannot be indifferent to our particular place in that
worldAustralia should stay firmly in the institutiona critic
where it is seen to be inefficient, illiberal or misguided, but a
participant at all times. If the brave idea of UNESCO fails, the
world will be a more dangerous place

Gough served with distinction on the Senate of the University of
Sydney both before and after his time in Paris.

In 1985 he was appointed to Australias Constitutional Commission
and from 1987-1990 he served as chairman of the National Gallery of
Australia. Close to a decade later he campaigned passionately for the
republic during the 1999 Referendum.
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In 2008, aged 92, Gough, the early Prime Ministerial champion of
land rights in this country, the man who decades earlier had placed
earth in Vincent Lingiaris outstretched hand, returned to Parliament
to witness Prime Minister Kevin Rudds apology to the Stolen
Generation.

All this and so much more.

Any list of achievements omits how often Gough was there - in his
office, at the end of the phone - responding to sometimes detailed
enquiries that often only he could answer; certainly only he could add
the minutiae, the colour and the human interest.

If he could, he would attend quite minor occasions because his
presence lifted the event. His loyalty to his friends and to the
Australian Labor Party has never wavered.
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In the fullness of time, a researcher using Goughs formidable RAAF
navigators log continuous from their beginnings during the War until
his very last flight will be able to track his movements and what he
did at each end. The lectures, keynote addresses, book launches,
eulogies.

Those works will add several more volumes to Goughs formidable
range of writings.

Let me remind the Senate that in 1997 aged 80, Gough Whitlam
published Abiding Interests. In the foreword he notes: If I begin this
book with a short review of the dismissal of my Government, it is to
emphasise that my abiding interests for Australia did not end with it.
They shall only end with a long and fortunate life.

Gough Whitlams long and fortunate life continues.
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Age may have limited his mobility but not his mission; his senses are
slower but his spirit still strong. Last Thursday we shared our regular
glass of Passiona. His verdict on the vintage bloody good
comrade!

He remains an inspiration to the millions of Australians who seek
reform for the good of the many, not the few. He remains an
inspiration to those of us who understand that during this short
moment of life we will sometimes be lifters, at other times we may
have to lean on others; that politics at its best does not divide society
but reminds us of the collective responsibility we have to each other.

Happy Birthday Gough.