WHITLAM ESSAY HISTORY Gough Edward Whitlam was Australia’s 21st prime minister, he was the leader of the labour party from 1967­1977 and prime minister from 1972­1975. During Whitlams raine of power he made a lot of improvements to Australia and what we stood for and these include changes to education, healthcare and the multiculturalism legislation. But one that stood out the most and made the greatest impact was the changes that the Whitlam government made to the multiculturalism legislation. This legislation abolished the white Australia policy, which was made to uphold racism all over Australia, but Whitlam saw that Australia was a better country, a country that didn’t promote and approve of racism so he did everything in his power to get rid of the barriers that kept Australia from becoming a nation to be proud of. The Whitlam government felt strongly about Indigenous Australians and their lack of equality in
Australia. Whitlam and his Government believed that Indigenous people had the right to claim back the land that was originally theirs, he believed that Indigenous input into society was vital in making Australia a stronger nation, and that it was time for Aboriginals to be given the respect they deserve. Whitlam made many changes in order to fulfill all his promises made to the
Aboriginals; Whitlam started off by constructing the “National Aboriginal Consultative Council” which consisted of 40 members who were to advise the Aboriginal Affairs minister, by doing this is gave Aboriginals the right to vote in an election, although only small this change was the first of many. Next in October 1975 the Whitlam Government drafted their first legislation to grant
Aboriginals their land rights, sadly the Whitlam Government was dismissed before the bill could be passed through the senate, but the Fraser Government saw to it that the bill was passed.
Next, the Whitlam Government passed a legislation that abolished discriminatory treatment of
Indigenous people. This legislation terminated any restrictions related to the property rights of
Aboriginal people, unequal legal representation of Aboriginal people was prohibited and extinguished any unfair working conditions and waged that were imposed on Aboriginals. Lastly, to make sure that Aboriginals were being treated fairly the Whitlam government funded 7.8 million dollars to an Aboriginal legal aid service. Whitlam made a lot of