Troy Bramston on Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New

Author Troy Bramston discusses his latest prime ministerial biography Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New.

Robert Menzies and Gough Whitlam remain two of the most important prime ministers in Australian political history. Both are especially revered by their respective side of politics and represent entirely contrasting approaches to governance - Menzies with 18 years of steady and consolidated progress, Whitlam with 3 years attempting to ‘crash through or crash’.

In his biography of Whitlam, Bramston draws many parallels between Menzies and Whitlam: family connections, their time in parliament together, their admiration and criticisms of each other. Gough Whitlam entered Parliament in 1952, and was Sir Robert’s fellow parliamentarian through most of his second prime ministership.

The format of this event will be 30-minutes of discussion with the guest and 30-minutes for live audience Q&A.