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My favourite Gough quote:
"When Sir Winton Turnbull [who represented a large rural seat], a slow and sometimes stumbling speaker, was raving and ranting on the adjournment and shouted: "I am a Country member." I interjected "I remember." Sir Winton could not understand why, for the first time in all the years he had been speaking in the House, there was instant and loud applause from both sides."
Would you mind elaborating on why this is your favourite? I tried to find some context for it but all I can really seem to find is the quote itself.
Just that it displays an incredibly quick wit and clever wordplay.
I am a country member ⟶ I am a cunt, remember ⟶ "I remember"
My other favourite politician quote is from NZ's PM Robert Muldoon who famously said in the 70s, when asked about the migration of NZers to Australia, that it 'raised the IQ of both countries'. Brilliant!
Oh my god, I totally missed that. Amazing lol Thanks for that!
Oh shit that was Whitlam? I always associated that with Keating for some reason.
Maintain the rage!
Rage at who? Kerr? Fraser? Whitlam? Everyone's long gone.
The 1975 dismissal is a wonderful case study in both the importance of Government checks and balances as well as the requirement to ensure they are used correctly, so that past mistakes won't be repeated. It's also why Australians even today get a little nervous when one party controls the senate alone.
But rage? No. I have nobody to rage at.
the importance of Government checks and balances
Watching the US has been interesting and somewhat terrifying at the same time.
How much of our own democracy and institutions here rely on people acting in good faith, and consistent with precedents or tradition? If and/or when those are broken, are there actually any real laws? Is there anyone to prosecute or enforce those laws?
I think it does somewhat speak for itself that we've had so few constitutional crises that the Whitlam dismissal remains as common knowledge as it does. It's not perfect but our government does appear to uphold tradition and precedent.
The mostly apolitical nature of the GG and the judiciary has helped us against bad actors who would abuse the powers of government. I could only imagine the damage that could occur if we had elections for our GG. Imagine someone like Clive Palmer getting the role and being expected to not abuse it.