Gough_Whitlam_and_the_Vietnam_War

Outline how Gough Whitlam influenced the development of Australia postwar period. 1. Gough Whitlam: fresh start for Australia and after the Vietnam War Australians were in hope that the Labor party would make better decisions than the Liberal party. 2. He contributed with: Social reform, cultural awareness, nations modernisation, gave recognition to the arts, education, migrants, women and aboriginals. 3. Made changes with: Helping Australia become more independent and draw away from America and Britain. Recognised official relations with China that has helped our trade system. 4. Appealed to all groups of society. Main supporters: - The moratorium movement and people who wanted to withdraw troops - The women’s movement, Whitlams policies benefited women such as maternity and divorce law changes - Aboriginal people - Elderly and unemployed, promised to raise pensions - Uni students, promised to build universities and abolish fees 5. Problems by 1975: feared that he was wreckless because he was rapidly making changes. Policies were costly. (eg. Aboriginal people, medicare, universities.) White males didn’t agree with him supporting aboriginal groups and women. 6. Whitlam’s contribution benefited Australia in the long run ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Explain how Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War changed Australian Society 1. Relationships with Asia: People realised that there was more to Asia than just Chinese and Japanese people. 2. Attitudes to government: People began to lose trust in the government and it’s decisions and they discovered that through political activism they had power. 3. Attitudes to war: Was the first war that everybody could see was bad and they witnessed the horrors, tv 4. The treatment of veterans: Treated badly by government and general public, blamed for mistreatment of Vietnamese civilians, didn’t receive help for psychological trauma or exposure to chemicals and didn’t receive a welcome home party until 1987, 15 years later. War was unpopular and government wanted it forgotten. 5. Australia divided: For years after the war Australia continued to disagree on issues 6. Refugees: Australia was obliged to protect South Vietnamese refugees that feared communism as they had supported us fighting in the war.