Commentary
The year 2022 was the Golden Jubilee of the election of Gough Whitlam’s government, as well as the inaugural year of Anthony Albanese’s. Whitlam faced similar economic challenges to Albanese and had some strikingly similar solutions, leading some to expect Albanese will emulate him and crash and burn within three years.
I’m not so sure.
Whitlam is a touchstone in Australian politics. He is revered by the Labor faithful as the man who modernised the country and the party and loathed by conservatives and the middle-ground as the man who almost broke the bank.
Elected in 1972 on the slogan “It’s time,” backed by an advertising jingle and countless celebrities, he gained a slim majority of seven, faced a double-dissolution election within 18 months, and was subsequently ejected from office with a record loss in 1975 after having been sacked by the governor-general….