Who do you think is the Greatest Australian Prime Minister? (2 Viewers)

[ihavenothing]

Mine would be Gough, with Chifley and Hawke coming after...and my favourite Liberal would have to be Malcolm Fraser.
Discuss peoples...

 

[UnIqUe_PrInCeSs]

Gough Whitlam!

 

[ihavenothing]

Gough Whitlam!

Oooh yeah

 

[zoesnotannoying]

Whitlam for sure. <3

Keating was also rather great. What a funny and insulting man he was.

 

[ZabZu]

I think either Hawke or Keating. Whitlam is too left-wing for me.

 

[ur_inner_child]

Why don't you guys try and create a criteria?

Otherwise, this is destined for Light & Offbeat

 

[withoutaface]

I honestly don't have one, but if I had to choose I'd say Howard. The fact is that Australia has never had a Reagan or a Thatcher who's put the country through a great period of economic reform, it's been a combination of the work of both Liberal and ALP PM's over the last 20 years.

 

[Nousiainen]

Whitlam was definitely our greatest and most respectable leader. These are some of the policies he has done (taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough_Whitlam). Most of these are simply amazing and makes me wish we had a Prime Minister just like him with the same vision, passion and love for this country. Here they are:

* established formal diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China;[5]
* assumed responsibility for tertiary education from the states and abolished tertiary fees;[6]
* cut tariffs across the board by 25% and abolished the Tariff Board;[7]
* established the Schools Commission to distribute federal funds to assist non-government schools on a needs basis;
* introduced a supporting benefit for single-parent families;
* abolished the death penalty for federal crimes;
* reduced the voting age to 18 years;
* abolished the last vestiges of the White Australia Policy;
* introduced language programs for non-English speaking Australians;
* mandated equal opportunities for women in Federal Government employment;
* appointed women to judicial and administrative positions;
* abolished conscription;
* set up the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee;
* amalgamated the five separate defence departments;
* instituted direct federal grants to local governments, and
* established the Order of Australia, Australia's own honours system.
* Improved access to justice for Indigenous Australians;
* introduced the policy of Self Determination for Indigenous Australians;
* advocated land rights for Indigenous Australians;
* increased funding for Indigenous Australian's welfare;
* introduced the Multiculturalism policy for all new migrants;
* establish the system of Legal Aid, and
* increased funding for the arts.

The Senate resolutely opposed six key bills and twice rejected them. These were designed to:

* Institute a universal, free health insurance system to be known as Medibank.
* Provide citizens of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory with Senate representation for the first time.
* Regulate the size of House of Representatives electorates to ensure one vote one value.
* Institute government overseeing of exploitation of minerals and oil.

Absolutely incredible and it's very sad that the Whitlam legacy could not continue further.

My second favourite would be Paul Keating. He worked hard to reach the top (didn't go to University), ushered in an era of fun politicians (just check out the Paul Keating insults page), but most importantly, was a great leader! Keating worked his ass off and involved himself serious politics for the ALP and by the age of 25 he had won a seat in the House of Representatives going on to have a long, memorable and successful parliamentary career!

Third would probably be Bob Hawke.

 

[_dhj_]

Gough is the obvious choice here, although it's hard to look past Howard for pure evilness.

 

[timlay]

Gough is the obvious choice here, although it's hard to look past Howard for pure evilness.

and howard's bushy eyebrows + unwillingness to give costello PM job.

(did they have an agreement. who knows.)

and my fav. is frank forde.lawl. if no one knows him, its coz he only had a week in office. (after curtin died.)

or harold holt. swimming in a banned area.. and dying. WHAT A REBEL.

 

[Comrade nathan]

George Bush Jr.

 

[timlay]

great work...its too bad he's not an australian pm..

 

[withoutaface]

Whitlam was definitely our greatest and most respectable leader. These are some of the policies he has done (taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough_Whitlam). Most of these are simply amazing and makes me wish we had a Prime Minister just like him with the same vision, passion and love for this country. Here they are:


Absolutely incredible and it's very sad that the Whitlam legacy could not continue further.

My second favourite would be Paul Keating. He worked hard to reach the top (didn't go to University), ushered in an era of fun politicians (just check out the Paul Keating insults page), but most importantly, was a great leader! Keating worked his ass off and involved himself serious politics for the ALP and by the age of 25 he had won a seat in the House of Representatives going on to have a long, memorable and successful parliamentary career!

Third would probably be Bob Hawke.

* Only prime minister stupid enough to get fired.

 

[torrentperson]

Would anyone like to explain why Howard is "evil"? And dhj, do you really think that sort of hysteria makes you look like anything but an idiot?

As for the original question, I would have to hand it to Hawke and Keating, on the grounds of their far-sighted economic reforms.

 

[torrentperson]

I should add that Whitlam, despite his good ideas, was fabulously inept at actually running the country. If you really think he's t3h b3st pr1m3 m1n1star evar!!!1, you're ignorant.

 

[ihavenothing]

Keating annoyed me as he was arrogant enough to think he'd be PM forever and was responsible for that recession but I still prefer him over Howard.

 

[PulpusFiction]

john curtin

 

[_dhj_]

Would anyone like to explain why Howard is "evil"? And dhj, do you really think that sort of hysteria makes you look like anything but an idiot?

As for the original question, I would have to hand it to Hawke and Keating, on the grounds of their far-sighted economic reforms.

Why don't you ask the expert on who breeds hysteria and the circumstances in which they breed. Seriously Howard is a genius. Conservative governments around the world take lessons from his spin-doctors.

 

[ihavenothing]

Yeh but they all had trememndous downfalls and tense times, just look at Maggie Thatcher

 

[poloktim]

* established formal diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China;

At the cost of formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (also known as Taiwan).

* assumed responsibility for tertiary education from the states and abolished tertiary fees;

This is difficult. I like his idea, but I don't like him assuming power from the states... so I will have to be against this one.

* established the Order of Australia, Australia's own honours system.

But... but... knight!