Whitlam – Visit to the Philippines

Clip 3: The end of the tour

Taken from the historical footage Whitlam – Visit to the Philippines (1974)

Original title classification not rated – this clip chosen to be PG

Curator’s clip description

On 13 February 1974, the final day of his six-nation South-East Asian tour, the then prime minister Gough Whitlam addresses local and foreign media at a press conference at the Hotel Intercontinental in Manila. He and his wife Margaret then depart the Philippines for home.

Curator’s notes

In a final press conference at the Hotel Intercontinental in Manila on 13 February 1974, Gough Whitlam finished his six-nation South-East Asian tour by responding to a question about regional rapprochement with China. Philippines media coverage of his visit was very positive. Whitlam reported on his entire trip to the House of Representatives on 7 March 1974.

Adrienne Parr, curator

Teachers’ notes

provided by The Le@rning Federation

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This clip shows the then prime minister, Gough Whitlam, on the last day of an official visit to the Philippines in February 1974, on the final leg of a six-nation tour to South-East Asia. It shows Whitlam at a press conference at the Hotel Intercontinental in Manila, explaining Australia’s position in recognising the People’s Republic of China. The clip then shows the Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos, and his wife, Imelda Marcos, farewelling Gough and Margaret Whitlam and their daughter Susan at Manila Airport. A narration lists the achievements of the visit, which included an updated trade agreement, greater Australia aid and investment in the Philippines, a cultural pact and an increase in the level of migration of skilled Philippine workers to Australia.

Educational value points

Prior to the election of the Whitlam Labor government in 1972, Australia’s foreign policy was closely aligned firstly with that of Britain, and after the Second World War with that of the USA. However, while Whitlam sought to maintain a close relationship with the USA, he pursued an independent foreign policy that emphasised regional engagement. Whitlam believed that Australia’s foreign policy should address the nation’s interests rather than be tied to the global objectives of the USA. The focus on the Asia–Pacific region was prompted both by Australia’s proximity to the region and the desire to develop trade.

Whitlam strengthened trade relations with and increased aid to Asia, including the Philippines, established diplomatic relations with the communist governments of North Vietnam and North Korea, and formally recognised the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which opened the way for multimillion-dollar trade and business opportunities between the PRC and Australia. The removal of the last remnants of the White Australia Policy, which used a dictation test to exclude non-European migrants and which was perceived within Asia as being racist, also sent a signal that Australia wanted to be an equal and active partner in the Asia–Pacific region.

Edward Gough Whitlam (1916–) travelled overseas more extensively than had any previous Australian prime minister, and while the federal opposition and tabloid press dismissed these trips as junkets, visits to Asian countries were a symbolic and practical means of cementing relations in the region. In September 1973, 10 months after becoming prime minister, Whitlam travelled throughout South-East Asia. During the 1974 trip shown here he visited Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Burma and Laos.

After winning government in 1972 Whitlam moved quickly to establish diplomatic ties with the PRC and was the first Australian prime minister to visit the PRC, this historic visit taking place between 31 October and 4 November 1973. After Mao Zedong had ousted the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek in 1949 and led China into communism, most countries, including Australia, refused to recognise the new state and instead recognised the Government of the Republic of China set up in Chinese Taipei, or Taiwan. As Whitlam predicted in the clip, during the 1970s most nations came to recognise the PRC and its capital city, Beijing.

Whitlam supported Marcos’s proposal of a Pacific forum that would strengthen economic and political ties between countries in the Asia–Pacific region. However, it was not until 1989, under the leadership of the then prime minister, Bob Hawke, that the first meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum took place. While Whitlam predicted that engagement with the Asian region would be a ‘central preoccupation and an enduring feature’ of Australia’s foreign policy, his successor as prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, was less enthusiastic about regionalism and it was only with the election of the Hawke government in 1983 that Asia once again became a foreign policy priority.

Margaret Whitlam’s active support for her husband’s political career is evident in the clip and through her work in his electorate. Her outspoken manner was a departure from the norm at a time when women in this role were, in her words, expected to be ‘seen and not heard’ (www.oph.gov.au, November 2006). Margaret accompanied Gough Whitlam on official visits overseas, including to China, Japan, India, North America and Europe, but also wrote a column for a women’s magazine and regularly appeared as a guest on television and radio, where she discussed political and social issues such as women’s rights and conservation. Her political activism has continued throughout her life, which was documented in a 2006 biography by Susan Mitchell.

Ferdinand Marcos (1917–89) was president of the Philippines between 1965 and 1986. While he was initially elected by popular vote, a deteriorating economy led to social unrest and in 1972 he declared martial law and assumed dictatorial control of the country. Marcos’s presidency was marked by government corruption and political repression, and he himself embezzled millions of dollars. Eventually he was ousted by a popular uprising. Marcos was committed to regional cooperation and in 1967 helped found the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).