What Whitlam Did

Tired of late degenerate capitalism?

This ABC Post by Jonathan Green compares the current Labor government with that of Gough Whitlam (in the 1970s.)  It reminds me why people tolerate governments' power: to collectively improve the lot of all, not to benefit the oligarchs and banksters; not to balance the budget, but to spend the tax take on things which matter; certainly not to regulate private behaviour, suspend habeas corpus, serve a medieval religious ideology (I'm looking at you, Abbot.)

The included list of achievements bears reformatting in a more readable form.

"It was, after all, the Whitlam government (and here we are grateful to various sources) that

1. ended conscription and withdrew Australian troops from Vietnam,
2. implemented equal pay for women,
3. launched an inquiry into education and funded government and non-government schools on a needs basis, 
4. established a separate ministry responsible for Aboriginal affairs, 
5. established the single department of defence, 
6. withdrew support for South Africa, 
7. granted independence to Papua-New Guinea, 
8. abolished tertiary education fees and 
9. established the Tertiary Education Assistance Scheme, 
10. increased pensions, 
11. established Medibank, 
12. established controls on foreign ownership of Australian resources, 
13. passed the Family Law Act establishing no-fault divorce, 
14. passed a series of laws banning racial and sexual discrimination, 
15. extended maternity leave and benefits for single mothers, 
16. sought to democratise the electoral system by introducing one-vote-one-value, 
17. implemented wide-ranging reforms of the Labor Party's organisation, 
18. initiated Australia's first federal legislation on 
19. human rights
20. the environment and 
21. heritage, 
22. established the Legal Aid Office, 
23. established the National Film and Television School, 
24. launched construction of National Gallery of Australia, 
25. established the Australian Development Assistance Agency, 
26. reopened the Australian Embassy in Peking after 24 years, 
27. established the Prices Justification Tribunal, 
28. revalued the dollar, 
29. cut tariffs across the board, 
30. established the Trade Practices Commission, 
31. established the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service, 
32. established the Law Reform Commission, 
33. established the Australian Film Commission, 
34. established the Australia Council, 
35. established the Australian Heritage Commission, 
36. established the Consumer Affairs Commission, 
37. established the Technical and Further Education Commission, 
38. implemented a national employment and training program, 
39. created Telecom and Australia Post to replace the Postmaster-General's Department, 
40. devised the Order of Australia to replace the British Honours system, 
41. abolished appeals to the Privy Council, 
42. changed the national anthem to Advance Australia Fair and 
43. instituted Aboriginal land rights.

Mind you it took them three years."

I'd like to add 44. Sewered most of Sydney.  (Hard to believe, isn't it, that Sydney wasn't sewered 40 years ago.)