As you may or may not know, this Friday, besides being Remembrance Day, is the thirtieth anniversary of the Great Dismissal Affair.
To celebrate, Gough Whitlam has rereleased (again) his book putting forward his side of the dismissal and the Old Parliament House will be holding special Dismissal Tours on the day and the weekend.
But Canberra’s own Liberal senator, Gary Humphries has decided to commemorate this major event of Australia’s political history by making sure we all remember that Gough Whitlam was no hero, but rather he was a “shocker”.
“In some respects, Mr Whitlam should be grateful for the dismissal because it has distracted people from what a shambles his government was,” Senator Humphries said.
“What’s often overlooked by Whitlam’s cheer-squad is that the people decided his fate the following month, producing at the time the worst result for the ALP in the post-war period. The ALP received only 44.3 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, a swing against it of 7.4 per cent.”
Well done Senator Humphries. Why couldn’t you just let Labor supporters remember things in their own way? After all, it’s not like they’re gloating or being obnoxious. Pity the same cannot be said about yourself.