(hurting more people is worse)The greatest threat to Australia #democracy is the United States
https://www.ussc.edu.au/gough-whitlams-pine-gap-problem United States Studies Centre | #GoughWhitlam’s #PineGap problem
Bin Chicken 🗑𓅠@MarkAsser Many years ago, there was talk of Australia becoming a republic, and one of the models proposed had a president with very little power. At the time, I thought it was a bad idea, not much different to our current arrangement of Governor General who, I thought was "Just a figurehead". Oh, I was naïve...
Later, I learned about Governor General John Kerr, and The Dismissal of Gough Whitlam. And, how that led to the undemocratic handover to Malcolm Fraser, and to many years of political Dark Ages that followed — that was the "normal" when I was a kid growing-up. John Kerr's abuse of power reshaped politics and governance in Australia for many Gen X people and all following generations.
The lesson history teaches us from political skullduggery in 1970s Australia is: you don't want a Governor General going rogue and breaking our system of Democracy.
You _do_ want your ultimate leader to be just a figurehead.
You want your nation's leaders to know their station and act accordingly, which is not to rule the people, but to serve the people.
#AusPol #JohnKerr #GoughWhitlam #MalcolmFraser #MaintainYourRage
Mojo ♻️@static That’s the thing—last time an Australian PM even hinted at steering our own ship, the rug got pulled out from under us. Just look at Gough Whitlam in the '70s; the moment he started questioning the "status quo" and those bases, he was absolutely shafted. It’s hard to have a sovereign foreign policy when the landlord decides to evict the tenant for asking where the spare keys are.
#auspol #goughwhitlam #pinegap #sovereignty
cass-Aby-andraA comment from a post in which Gough Whitlam was referred to as a politician who "delivered so much for Australians who had felt overlooked for too long".
I mean, I'm not a fan of politicians... but whatever you want to say about Whitlam, he fucking PASSED some legislation.
Robert FairheadPart of the story brief was that it must take place on an important date from the past 50 years. I chose #TheDismissal of #GoughWhitlam's Labor government on 11 November 1975. ✍️
#writers #writing #sciencefiction #timetravel #shortstories
Link to story on Tall And True: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/fiction/short-stories/the-dismissal-paradox
Opinion | The Guardian USWhat would Whitlam do? Fifty years on from the dismissal, his values could still guide Australian politics | Peter Lewis https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/11/what-would-gough-whitlam-fifty-50-year-dismissal-anniversary #Artificialintelligence(AI) #Australianpolitics #AnthonyAlbanese #Essentialpoll #GoughWhitlam #Laborparty #Technology
EndemicEarthlingHow would the major players look back on the dismissal 50 years later? | Fiona Katauskas https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/nov/11/how-would-the-major-players-look-back-on-the-dismissal-50-years-later #Australianpolitics #MalcolmFraser #Australianews #GoughWhitlam
In a world with democracy in decline, we have much to learn from those who rallied against Whitlam’s dismissal | Frank Bongiorno and James Watson https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/07/in-a-world-with-democracy-in-decline-we-have-much-to-learn-from-those-who-rallied-against-whitlams-dismissal #Australianpolitics #MalcolmFraser #GoughWhitlam
Maude NificentAuspol #GoughWhitlam #JohnMenadue #TheDismissal
#Zionism #TheLoansAffair #PinceKingCharles #PineGap
#ForeignInvestments #Power #TheLoansAffair
What would Whitlam think of the Albanese Government?
an interesting conversation between John Menadue and Bart Shteinman about whitlam’s style, compared to that of albanese
—-a mid length but rewarding read covering a range of topics
“John Menadue: On the American relationship, it would be very, very different. Whitlam showed his colours about a month after his election by criticising the American bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong. The Americans were terribly upset with that, because we were supposed to be a locked-in ally. People around the White House with Nixon were calling us — or at least the Australian Government, the prime minister — “North Vietnamese collaborators”. And there were some rude words that Nixon said about Whitlam – that they were “peaceniks” or worse!”
and
“Whitlam was the first person who explained to me the difference between Judaism and Zionism. As a young man I hadn’t appreciated the difference. He explained it to me, and it was quite a revelation.”
———
an interjection from maude:
incidentally, 🤔 iirc, israel in the 60s & 70s had the west’s sympathy (“remember the holocaust”, and Leon Uris books)… the reaction in 1978 after the oscars where Vanessa Redgrave spoke in favour of Palestine was huge
anyway, back to the article discussing whitlam and albanese
————-
“John Menadue: Most people would agree the politics of the Connor fundraising left a lot to be desired. It was messy, very difficult. Gough expressed a lack of confidence in Treasury and Treasury paid it back in spades, leaking a lot of information about the loan raising. So it was politically very damaging.
But what drove Rex Connor and was supported in the Labor Party generally was lost sight of in the whole “loans affair”. It was an attempt by the government to address the problem of foreign ownership of our resources. Now, around 80% of our resource industries are owned offshore: BHP, Rio Tinto, and so on, and Rex Connor was trying to head that off. Instead of selling off our companies, we would borrow but retain ownership in Australia. That would have been difficult to achieve, but that’s what drove Rex Connor, and most Australians would applaud that now.”
and
“We often hear Lord Acton: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” but it was Robert Caro who made the point that power reveals what people are really like…”
https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/11/what-would-whitlam-think-of-the-albanese-government/
