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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
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Paul Daley

A handshake with Gough Whitlam and a divide between my parents that time couldn’t heal

Gough Whitlam with singer Little Pattie, wearing t-shirts announcing 'It's Time', for his Labor election campaign.
‘I avoided political discussions with my parents together. Had I not I would have said that I was the proud beneficiary of so much of Gough Whitlam’s legacy.’ Photograph: Graeme Fletcher/Getty Images

I grew up hating politics. No good could ever come of it, I knew that for certain. For as a kid I’d heard my parents arguing all those times about Gough Whitlam.

Dad, a lifelong Labor devotee, was at death’s door when he voted against John Howard at the November 2007 election that ended nearly 12 years of Liberal rule. It was, perhaps, Dad’s last moment of great pride.

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