At 92, Gough's still the life of the party

WE LIVE in revolutionary times, says Gough Whitlam, a man not averse to a little shake-up himself.
"It is a revolution in itself that Australia should now have a Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister - with the United States looking forward to having an English-speaking one," Mr Whitlam said.

He may have entered, in his own words, "extreme old age", but there was no sign of the famous Whitlam wit fading as the great and good of the Labor Party turned out yesterday to honour the party's elder statesman on his 92nd birthday.

Mr Whitlam, ...cheerfully claimed the title of longest-living former prime minister, overtaking Billy Hughes, John Gorton and Winston Churchill.

And he showed his mind was still on the job, warning that electoral reform - including fixed terms and synchronised state and federal elections - was urgently needed to tackle climate change. Special Minister of State John Faulkner paid tribute to the former leader, praising his reforms, including the introduction of universal health care and needs-based funding for schools.