Word: whitlam
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...disease of political instability is not limited to Europe. In Israel, Premier-elect Yitzhak Rabin is struggling to form a coalition government capable of taking his divided and war-disillusioned nation into a new era. In Australia, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was forced to call new elections this week. In Japan, meanwhile, Premier Kakuei Tanaka seems to be slipping steadily in public opinion and within his Liberal Democratic Party...
Many thought that they had decided that in December 1972, when they put into power the first Labor government in 23 years. In short order, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, the towering (6 ft. 4 in.) tornado of Australian politics, abolished the draft, and made it clear to both the U.S. and Britain that they could no longer count on unquestioning Aussie support of their Pacific policies. At home his broom was just as brisk, and his Labor government imposed restrictions on big multinational corporations, which control about two-thirds of the country's mining, and gave big boosts...
...Australians have always returned to that reliable old import, God Save the Queen. During the 1972 election campaign, Labor Party Leader Gough Whitlam said that no self-respecting country should wave its flag to the words and music of its former colonial overlord. One of his first acts as Prime Minister was to begin still another search for a new song more befitting "our national aspirations." Although the government offered a prize of $14,850 to the winner, none of the thousands of entries was thought worthy of a kangaroo lullaby, let alone a national anthem. In desperation, the government...
Bowing to the pressure, the Senate then moved to defer consideration of the money-supply bill. But Whitlam took up the challenge: he said that he would treat a Senate deferral as a refusal of supply. He therefore sought the dissolution of Parliament and called for general elections to be held on May 18. Frustrated by his defeat in the Gair imbroglio and the Senate's long-term obstruction of his program, Whitlam had only one means of gaining control in the Senate-to take the risk of a new election...
...campaign to come, the opposition will no doubt blame the government for Australia's 14% inflation rate; it will almost certainly gain ground in rural areas where farmers are upset at Labor's abolition of longstanding tax concessions. But Whitlam can effectively argue that Labor's social program has been blocked by an obstreperous Sen ate, while in foreign affairs the country has gained a stronger and more independent voice. Whitlam, 58, is also a more popular and commanding figure than the untried Snedden, 47, a former Perth newsboy who took over as Liberal leader after...