Word: whitlam
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...just not acceptable that a director of a major commonwealth enterprise should be on pillow-talk terms with the head of government," sniffed the Melbourne Herald, Australia's largest evening paper. Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, 57, had not been caught in flagrante delicto; rather his wife Margaret, 54, was being heckled about her latest job. A trained social worker, Margaret Whitlam is a director of the Commonwealth Hostels Ltd., an organization that administers government housing. "Drop it, Meg," was the Herald's blunt advice. But Mrs. Whitlam, whose liberal views on abortion, sex and marijuana have shocked Australians...
Some analysts interpreted the vote as a slap at Labor's attempt to transform conservative Australia into a welfare state, plus a protest against inflation, which has more than doubled in the year that Whitlam has been Prime Minister. The independent Melbourne Age offered an even gloomier interpretation. It saw an "ominous precedent" in the vote, noting that the last time a Labor government had ruled the country, its ouster (in 1949) was preceded by a similar rejection of a referendum over the issue of federal control of prices...
While Laborites have tried to put a good face on the defeat by saying that the vote cannot be construed as a popularity poll, they obviously are concerned by the extent of public disenchantment. Before the vote, Whitlam had been considering whether to dissolve Parliament in May when election for half the Senate is due in a bid to strengthen Labor's tenuous position (Labor controls the lower house, the opposition the Senate). Such a dissolution now obviously could mean his defeat and a premature end to Australia's socialist experiment...
...Whitlam knows he cannot avoid an election showdown indefinitely. He gave some indication of the line he may take when he confided to colleagues last week: "I won't be a lame-duck Prime Minister. Anyone in this job enjoys it, but there is no point in enjoying the prestige if one cannot deliver the goods." The prospect is that he will take his chances at the polls next year...
Curiously, Australia's new Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam seemed to rile Heath more by warning the underdeveloped Commonwealth countries to beware of multinational corporations. Heath retorted that if Whitlam had problems with such corporations in Australia, he should enact antitrust laws. "That would ensure competition," the British Conservative leader said. "But," he added, cuttingly, "that is not something socialist prime ministers like to hear...