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Former Australia Prime Minister Gough Whitlam dies
Former Australian Prime Minister Edward Gough Whitlam, who was dismissed from office in a constitutional crisis in 1975, died Tuesday, family members said
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ormer Australian Prime Minister Edward Gough Whitlam, who was dismissed from office in a constitutional crisis in 1975, died Tuesday, family members said. He was 98 years old.
Known as Gough Whitlam, he led his reformist center-left Labor Party into power at elections in 1972 for the first time in a generation.
He was dismissed in 1975 by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, who represented the British Monarch who is Australia's head of state. It was the only time since Australian federation in 1901 that a governor-general had fired a democratically elected government.
Whitlam's four children confirmed the death in Sydney in a statement. They described him as "a loving and generous father."
"He was a source of inspiration to us and our families and for millions of Australians," his children said.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who leads the conservative Liberal Party, said Whitlam "seemed, in so many ways, larger than life."
"Gough Whitlam was a giant of his time," Abbott said in a statement.
Abbott noted that Whitlam established diplomatic relations with China and became the first Australian prime minister to visit a country that is now Australia's largest trading partner.
Whitlam's government was applauded for introducing free health care and university education, but was widely criticized for its economic management.
His controversial dismissal ended a stalemate in which a hostile Senate refused to pass his budget bills and Whitlam refused to call an election.
Liberal Party Leader Malcom Fraser was installed as caretaker prime minister and went on to defeat Labor under Whitlam's leadership in an election landslide weeks later.
Whitlam was born on July 11, 1916. He was brought up in the Australian capital Canberra where his father Fred was a government lawyer.
He studied law at Sydney University and served as an Australian air force bomber navigator during World War II before entering parliament in 1952.
His wife Margaret, whom he married in 1942, died in 2012. (***)
