Whitlam not the worst
Sir: Hal Colebatch manages to inject so much spiteful malice into his piece on Gough Whitlam's book, The Whitlam Gov- ernment 1972-75 (Books, 23 August), that it totally destroys the validity it might have claimed as a book review. I am surprised and saddened that your fine magazine published such a mean-spirited diatribe in the name of literary criticism.
The Whitlam government was a green flicker of human possibility in the seeming- ly endless desert of Australian conservat- ism. The fact that it failed had more to do with the desperate self-interest of a few power-hungry members of the opposition rather than the folly of an inexperienced, but enthusiastic, government.
Gough Whitlam was certainly not Au- stralia's worst prime minister. He had insufficient time to make a claim to either end of the scale. However, his intellect and vision and sheer political style has earned him the right to a fairer assessment than that provided by Hal Colebatch, whose right-wing prejudice is well known here in Australia.
Ian McFarlane 13 Tella Street,
Gooseberry Hill 6076, Western Australia
Previous page
