Transitional Hero: Gough Whitlam and the Australian Labor Party

Abstract

This article is a contribution to the debate on the nature of the modern Labor Party and a commentary on the extensive literature which the debate has produced (see Warhurst 1994). An important element in this literature is the argument that the modern Labor Party, led by Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, is no longer the party it once was, but is fundamentally different in its policies, and that indeed in its very nature it is alien to Labor traditions (Maddox 1989; Jaensch 1989; Beilharz 1994). This line of argument has been called, by Rick Kuhn, the discontinuity thesis, and is now known as such (Kuhn 1992). Along with others, I am not convinced by this thesis but would rather emphasise the continuities in Labor experience. Like Hugh Emy I believe that 'The contrast between the two [Whitlam and Hawke] has been overdrawn'. (Emy 1993, p. 20)