It’s Time To Go Back And Watch Gough Whitlam’s Brilliant 1972 Election Campaign Ad

This morning news came through that former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam has passed away at the age of 98. As one might expect, tributes and remembrances have begun to flow, with everyone from Tony Abbott to Christine Milne paying homage to Whitlam on social media, while former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has already published a piece in the Guardian.

It’s typical to lionise a historical figure when they die; to make more of their achievements and character than we otherwise would if they were still alive, especially immediately following their death. Whitlam himself was venerated for a long time even while he was alive, and if you grew up with two parents who gushed over Whitlam the way mine did, it would be forgivable to take that kind of adulation with a grain of salt.

But a look back at It’s Time, the campaign that made him Prime Minister, is a pretty powerful reminder that this guy really was everything people say he was. The star power aside — the campaign pulled in Bert Newton, Jacki Weaver, Graham Kennedy, Jack Thompson, Little Pattie and other big Australian personalities of the time — and passing over the lovable dagginess that their haircuts and clothes give off now, the TV ad that Whitlam and the Labor Party ran with in the lead-up to the 1972 federal election was genuinely extraordinary.

Can you imagine a political party pulling off something like this now? Can you imagine a Labor Party — or anyone else — so fully embracing this spirit of optimism and ambition; of saying “We are going to turn the country upside down, and we’re taking you with us”? Can you imagine anyone in the current political landscape capturing the imagination and tugging at the heartstrings the way “It’s Time” did?

What people are saying is true. He was unique. Eighteen years ago, when asked about the prospect of death and meeting god, he replied: “You can be sure of one thing. I will treat Him as an equal.” What a legend.