In an open letter in August 1998, four former prime ministers expressed their concern about the upsurge in racism at the time of the Howard Government and the coming election.

The four said “racism is an unmitigated evil, it is immoral, it does Australia significant harm through Asia and the wider world, it destroys our self-esteem and self-respect. In Australia it would pit Australian against Australian. It would be destructive of our society.”

They urged voters “to put any candidate supporting any element of racism last in the election both to the Senate and the House of Representatives”. Fortunately, that is what voters did.

Will the leaders of the three major parties do the same at future elections?

The four signature prime ministers were Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.

These four prime ministers had each played key roles in ending White Australia.

Gough Whitlam, and Don Dunstan, the South Australian Premier, were responsible for deleting White Australia from the ALP platform at a Party conference in Sydney in........

© Pearls and Irritations