Editing Gough Whitlam (section)

===Member of Parliament, 1952–1960===

[[File:Gough Whitlam 1950s.png|thumb|left|upright|Whitlam as a newly elected MP, circa 1952]]

[[File:Whitlam family.jpg|thumb|upright|Whitlam with his wife Margaret and their four children in 1954]]

With his war service loan, Whitlam built a house in seaside [[Cronulla, New South Wales|Cronulla]].{{sfn|Lloyd|2008|p=331}} He also bought the block of land next door, using the prize money (£1,000 in security bonds) he received for winning the [[Australian Quiz Champion|Australian National Quiz Championship]] in 1948 and 1949 (he was runner-up in 1950).<ref name="Before Office" /> He sought to make a career in the ALP there, but local Labor supporters were sceptical of Whitlam's loyalties, given his privileged background.{{sfn|Lloyd|2008|p=331}} In the postwar years, he practised law, concentrating on landlord/tenant matters, and sought to build his bona fides in the party. He ran twice{{snd}}unsuccessfully{{snd}}for the local council, once (also unsuccessfully) for the [[New South Wales Legislative Assembly]], and campaigned for other candidates.{{sfn|Oakes|Solomon|1973|p=50}} In 1951, [[Bert Lazzarini]], the Labor member for the Federal electorate of [[Division of Werriwa|Werriwa]], announced that he would stand down at the next election. Whitlam won the [[preselection]] as ALP candidate. Lazzarini died in 1952 before completing his term and Whitlam was elected to the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] in the ensuing [[1952 Werriwa by-election|by-election on 29 November 1952]]. Whitlam trebled Lazzarini's majority in a 12 per cent swing to Labor.{{sfn|Lloyd|2008|p=331}}

Whitlam joined the ALP minority in the House of Representatives. His [[maiden speech]] provoked an interruption by a future prime minister, [[John McEwen]], who was then told by the [[Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives|Speaker]] that maiden speeches are traditionally heard in silence. Whitlam responded to McEwen by saying [[Benjamin Disraeli]] had been heckled in his maiden speech and had responded, "The time will come when you shall hear me." He told McEwen, "The time will come when you may interrupt me." According to early Whitlam biographers [[Laurie Oakes]] and David Solomon, this cool response put the Coalition government on notice that he would be a force to be reckoned with.{{sfn|Oakes|Solomon|1973|p=54}}

In the rough and tumble debate in the House of Representatives, Whitlam called fellow MHR [[Bill Bourke (politician)|Bill Bourke]] "this grizzling [[Quisling]]", [[Garfield Barwick]] (who, as High Court Chief Justice, played a role in Whitlam's downfall) a "bumptious bastard", and he said [[Bill Wentworth]] exhibited a "hereditary streak of insanity".{{sfn|Hocking|2008|p=172}} After calling future prime minister [[William McMahon]] a "[[quean]]", he apologised.{{sfn|Hocking|2008|p=172}}

[[File:Gough Whitlam 1959.jpg|thumb|upright|Whitlam in 1959]]

The ALP had been out of office since the [[Ben Chifley|Chifley]] Government's defeat in 1949 and, since 1951, had been under the leadership of [[H. V. Evatt|Bert Evatt]], whom Whitlam greatly admired. In 1954, the ALP seemed likely to return to power. The Prime Minister, [[Robert Menzies]], adroitly used the [[Petrov Affair|defection of a Soviet official]] to his advantage, and [[Coalition (Australia)|his coalition]] of the Liberal and [[National Party of Australia|Country]] parties was returned in the [[1954 Australian federal election|1954 election]] with a seven-seat majority. After the election, Evatt attempted to purge the party of [[Industrial Groups|industrial groupers]], who had long dissented from party policy, and who were predominantly Catholic and anti-communist. The ensuing division in the ALP, which came to be known as "[[Australian Labor Party split of 1955|The Split]]", sparked the birth of the [[Democratic Labor Party (Australia, 1955)|Democratic Labor Party]] (DLP). The conflict helped to keep Labor out of power for a generation, since DLP supporters chose the Liberal Party in [[Instant-runoff voting|preferential voting]]. Whitlam supported Evatt throughout this period.{{sfn|Lloyd|2008|pp=332–333}}

In 1955, a redistribution divided Whitlam's electorate of Werriwa in two, with his Cronulla home located in the new electorate of [[Division of Hughes|Hughes]]. Although Whitlam would have received ALP support in either division, he chose to continue standing for Werriwa and moved from Cronulla to [[Cabramatta, New South Wales|Cabramatta]]. This meant even longer journeys for his older children to attend school, since neither electorate had a high school at the time; they attended school in Sydney.{{sfn|Hocking|2008|pp=177–179}}

Whitlam was appointed to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Constitutional Review in 1956. Biographer [[Jenny Hocking]] calls his service on the committee, which included members from all parties in both chambers of Parliament, one of the "great influences in his political development".{{sfn|Hocking|2008|p=181}} According to Hocking, service on the committee caused Whitlam to focus not on internal conflicts consuming the ALP, but on Labor goals which were possible and worthwhile in the constitutional framework. Many Labor goals, such as nationalisation, ran contrary to the Constitution. Whitlam came to believe the Constitution{{snd}}and especially Section 96 (which allowed the federal government to make grants to the states){{snd}}could be used to advance a worthwhile Labor programme.{{sfn|Hocking|2008|pp=181–186}}