Word: canberras
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Whitlam's biggest problems is federal-state relations. A strong believer in increased federal powers, he has already collided with all six state premiers (three of them fellow Laborites) over his plans to give Canberra control over offshore resources. This month, four of the premiers went to London to seek the support of the Queen and Britain's Privy Council...
...relatively minor but symbolic matter of protocol, Whitlam apparently got Elizabeth to agree that henceforth the credentials of Australian ambassadors need not be sent halfway around the world for her signature but can be signed in Canberra by her Governor General. The Prime Minister also got from Whitehall an agreement in principle that Australia's own High Court should replace Britain's Privy Council as the last court of appeal for Australian litigants. There was somewhat less harmony on a more substantive issue -namely, that Britain should join Australia and New Zealand in opposing further French nuclear tests...
...Human Rights Commission. As a boy, Gough liked to sit at dinner with the family encyclopedia at his back, handy for reference in arguments. Gough left one school after a teacher complained of his impudence, a charge that was to be echoed throughout his life. In Canberra Grammar, he was classed as industrious but not brilliant, good in English and Latin, terrible in math and, again, impudent. At Sydney University, where he studied arts and law, he was known as a prankster. In his first role as Prime Minister, he played Neville Chamberlain in a 1940 student skit. Stepping...
There has also been talk in Canberra that Australia might eventually declare itself a republic. Whitlam has let it be known that he considers the Queen something of a constitutional anachronism. "The monarch is usually resident overseas," he noted dryly. Presumably his affections for Queen Elizabeth were not increased by the fact that he received a Christmas card from Buckingham Palace addressed simply to "The Prime Minister of Australia." No name was attached to the card...
Even before being sworn in, Whitlam had recalled the Australian Ambassador to Taipei and instructed Canberra's Ambassador to France to start talks with the Chinese in Paris aimed at establishing diplomatic relations with Peking. Now the Australian Ambassador to the United Nations was directed to back moves for a neutralized zone in the Indian Ocean. He was also told to reverse field and support Third World resolutions against white-supremacist Rhodesia. A Rhodesian information of fice in Sydney was ordered shut down. South Africa was told that sporting teams selected along racial lines would not be allowed into...