whitlam, the '70's and labour's ineptitude, page-2

Nothing much has changed - the Howard government is for big government, big spending like never before. Thank heavens for the controlling influence of the Senate.

But the myth of Whitlam incompetence is still repeated by the soft headed, lazy and ignorant.


Papers dispel 'myths' on cabinet
By Mike Steketee, National affairs editor, The Australian
January 01, 2004

Gough Whitlam sees the release of the 1973 cabinet papers as an opportunity to dispel the "myths" that his government did too much too soon and disregarded the economic consequences of its actions.

At a briefing at the National Archives in Canberra, Whitlam - who in 1972 became the first Labor prime minister for 23 years - boasted that parliament in 1973 passed 221 acts, a record not broken until the Keating government in 1992.

But he insisted his administration had followed the practices of orderly government, including taking the advice of the public service. He pointed to cuts in government spending and a 25per cent tariff cut as examples of how his government had responded to rising inflation.

His government's greatest mistake, he said, came in September when it accepted the advice of Treasury and the Reserve Bank for a credit squeeze. This contributed to rising unemployment in 1974.

It also had been a mistake to have all 27 ministers in cabinet - a decision imposed on him by the Labor caucus while still in Opposition. "It was carried with the support of those who were not likely to be elected in the first (cabinet) group," he said.

"The other big mistake I made was that I didn't vet people that my ministers employed on their staff." Asked whether he had anyone in particular in mind, he replied: "The list is too long ... I don't identify roosters" - a reference to Opposition Leader Mark Latham's description of challenger Kim Beazley's leading supporters.

The problem Whitlam recognised was that the ambitions of ministerial staff, on their own behalf and that of their ministers, helped create an image of infighting in the government.

But he was intent on setting the record straight on his government's portrayal, even by its Labor successors, as economically and managerially incompetent. Stressing the importance of the cabinet documents, he added: "It is not a matter of vindication but of verification."

Inflation and unemployment rose sharply under the Whitlam government. Rising inflation had its seeds in the unsuccessful attempt by the previous McMahon government to spend its way out of trouble in 1972, and was greatly exacerbated by OPEC's more than quadrupling of oil prices in 1973 and 1974. But the Whitlam government's rapid increase in spending on social programs -- particularly education and health -- is also often blamed.

Whitlam pointed to cabinet documents showing major steps were taken to combat inflation. One shows that in March 1973 he set up a taskforce under former Reserve Bank governor HC "Nugget" Coombs to find spending cuts and another lists the 1104 decisions the government made to implement its recommendations.

He also pointed to cabinet's decision by a 2-1 majority in July to cut tariffs by 25per cent across the board - a measure that made imports cheaper. He criticised Treasury for being "clueless" about how to respond to the oil crisis.

Whitlam has based his claim that he led an orderly and professional government on the argument that many of the programs were introduced after years of consideration and preparation, and they were carefully implemented.

He said he usually chaired cabinet's legislation committee, and consulted attorney-general Lionel Murphy and the government's other senior legal officers before introducing any legislation or other measures that could come before the courts.

"This was the basis of the exceptional success of my governments in the High Court. No governments have had so many of their acts and actions challenged during and after their terms of office. No other governments have had all their acts and actions upheld," Whitlam said.

The government's actions represented a vast expansion of federal responsibilities but they had been foreshadowed by the Curtin and Chifley governments during and after World War II. For example, free tertiary education and federal aid for schools had their origins in the actions of the Chifley government. Medibank, introduced during the Whitlam government, harked back to the Chifley government's 1946 referendum giving federal parliament new powers in health, as well as moves for free hospital treatment from 1948.

Whitlam said former leader Arthur Calwell and he had moved in 1960 to amend legislation to provide equal pay to female public servants.

The Whitlam government's removal of the remaining elements of the White Australia policy followed Labor's unanimous decision at its 1965 federal conference to delete White Australia from its platform.

In building his case, Whitlam did not miss the opportunity to fire some shots at the Liberals. Speaking of the detailed program that Labor took to the 1972 election, he said: "We did not feel free, after the elections, to distinguish between core and non-core promises" - a distinction made by John Howard after winning the 1996 election.

Nor, he said, had it occurred to his government that Australia's national interests could be served "by severing them from Australia's international obligations and reputation" - a reference to the Howard Government's criticism of the United Nations.