The Ousting of the Seventies

(or, was it a 'friendly' American coup?)

in the light of current reflection
it’s sad to think on
the Whitlam Government
we might have had

in the light of never forgetting
it’s clear what Gough was about to do then
was absolutely forbidden

in the light of Milton Friedman’s
free-market corporatist ideology
what Gough was about to do
was an absolute ‘no-no’

Gough was about to (as he put it)
“buy back the farm”
he was poised to put Australia
back into the hands of Australians
but he needed a big, big loan to do it

in light of the passion of the day
the 'Kemlani' loan
brought his government down
instigated by a vengeful Liberal Party
led by the stoney-faced Malcolm Fraser
they blocked the money supply
halted all government business

this was the hawkish Liberal Opposition
acquiescing as always to US interests
eagerly bowing to the pressure
of Friedman’s economic-purists
the Chicago Boys
who spread his ideology globally
gangster-Capitalists

unfortunately Gough
had given too clear a signal
he was not about to let
free-market Global Capitalism
rape us of our assets

Gough had set alarm bells ringing
Australia was
'not available’ to be ‘bought-out’

American interests must then have
nervously asked themselves
would Whitlam then bow to local pressure
take steps to 'get rid' of
Pine Gap US spy-base?

so with a deviousness
known only to the Liberal Party
and with, not a 'little' help from
a drunken Governor General
'Kerr's cur'
the dirty deed was done
and Australia was cheated
of her democratically elected government

in light of the inevitable churn of world events
America’s 'laissez-faire' free-market imperative
would eventually arrive anyway
fully blown in the 90s – ironically -
via Labor’s Paul Keating

Keating
celebrated in song & dance these days
was just one more naïve
US besotted politician
(as Premier Kennett was later)
completely seduced
by Friedman’s failed abstract theory

Globalization
had already killed millions world wide
in military coups & political assassinations
torture, murdered civilians
all crimes against humanity

Keating had fallen
right under Friedman's spell
he sold off our national treasures
Commonwealth Bank
national airline Qantas
others followed
falling like nine-pins
gas, electricity
& the great tragedy – water

I can still hear his words
from the ether of the time
as he proudly announced
a massive budget surplus
- somewhat zealously -

“a beautiful set of numbers”
he said

Pamela Sidney 17.3.08